Night and Day
by Ethril
Summary: Years have passed and a relative peace has arrived on Berk. The first of the dragon riders have grown up and are now starting families of their own. One day a small boat that was adrift at sea arrives at Berk. What is inside has the potential to change everything. Toothless/OC with some Hiccup/Astrid. Mostly Toothless/OC
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the movies, books, or tv series. I do own a copy of the movies though. Does that count for anything?

Night and Day

Chapter 1: Arrival

"Don't worry little sister, e-everything will be all…alright." A voice whispered weakly over the lapping waves against the small boat. The boat was drifting aimlessly in the ocean with a fog obscuring everything. Perhaps if it had not been night then something could have been seen through the fog, but the pitch black of night helped the fog to make sight impossible.

The woman that had spoken was weak from lack of food for almost a week. She and the little one she had with her had just run out of fresh water the day before.

"_Sister…sister don't fall asleep! You said sleeping was bad."_ The little one begged as she huddled next to the older girl. The little girl's worry made her older sister smile fondly. The woman pulled the little one close so that they could share their warmth under the thin cloak they had been able to grab.

"We'll find land soon. W-when morning comes." The woman's voice grew weaker as she fought to stay awake. She gently touched the little girl's face. "Mum would be s-so proud of y-you." With that her hand fell across her sister's back and the woman fell unconscious.

The thought of their mother brought tears to the little one's eyes and she sniffled and buried her face in her sister's shirt to hide the tears. 'I wish mama was here.' She thought to herself as she clung to her sister. Her sobbing quieted as she listened to the lapping water hitting the side of the little boat.

* * *

><p>It had been years since the Dragon Queen had been defeated and peace between the people of Berk and the dragons started. The Dragon Academy, led by Hiccup and Astrid, gained strength as it proved invaluable against the attacks performed by Alvin the Treacherous and his Outcast Tribe. Although life in Berk wasn't the most peaceful it was at least safe. Then again what place would be peaceful when Vikings were around and dragons lived with them? Needless to say life in Berk was as close to peaceful as a village inhabited by dragons and Vikings could get.<p>

"Patrol is so boring." A rather aggravated and annoyed Ruffnut said as she leaned against Barf's head. "Shoulda just blamed you for everything."

A huff came from Ruffnut's twin brother. "Patrol is fun! Don't know what you're whining about." He leaned to the side to bump Belch's head against Barf's. "That prank was pretty awesome though!"

That last comment made Ruffnut grin and chuckle. The prank had been pretty sweet so perhaps being on patrol duty wasn't so bad. Still though, sitting out on a tall rock formation with their shared dragon wasn't the most thrilling thing Ruffnut wanted to be doing. Despite the peace between dragons and Vikings and the lack of mischief by Alvin and the Outcasts, Hiccup still required patrols be done around the clock. Patrols were a lot easier to perform now that they had dragons to fly around on.

As usual the twins started bickering and arguing louder and louder as time passed. Their yelling match started to affect their dragon and soon enough the two heads were fighting with each other as well. Belch turned and bumped his head rather forcefully against Barf when the argument got more and more heated.

"Watch it dragon dung for brains!" Ruffnut cursed out as she pulled herself back into her saddle after Belch had dislodged her with that hit.

"Not my fault you're not as awesome as me." Tuffnut replied as he patted his hand against Belch's head.

The two continued on with their banter, their previous argument currently forgotten as a new one started. The two dragon heads mumbled and grumbled at each other for some time while their riders continued to talk louder and louder.

"Hey…what's that?" Tuffnut suddenly said as he looked out into the fog. The dragon heads paused and looked forward. Off in the distance, there was a very dim light bobbing in the mist. The dragon, with a confused order from its riders, lifted up from the stone pillar they had been resting on.

* * *

><p>The little girl lost track of how long she and her sister had been drifting after her sister had fallen asleep. The sound of the ocean around them had calmed the younger girl as she lay nestled against her sister's chest. She felt tired, but knew that she had to stay awake in case they found land or help. She could get some rest after her sister woke up.<p>

That's what she was planning on doing when she heard the voices. The girl sat up quickly and she looked around hopefully as she heard voices through the mist that covered and concealed everything around them. "Hello?" The little one called out to try and get the attention of the people she could hear. Quickly the girl went over to the lantern that was at the head of the little boat and lit the wick that was inside. "Please! Help us!" She called out again once the lantern was lit.

The girl went back to her sister quickly which made the boat rock precariously. "Sister! Sister wake up! I think we found people!" The little girl pushed at her older sister, hoping to rouse her from her exhaustion induced slumber.

The first shake did not rouse the woman, and neither did the second. The little girl frowned and leaned close to try to wake her sister again. As she pressed against her sister's skin, she noticed just how cold the woman was. This lack of heat frightened the young girl.

"Please! Hurry! We need help!" The girl screamed out in the direction the voices had come from. She turned back to her sister and continued to shake her to wake her up. Wake up, wake up! Don't…don't… The little girl couldn't even finish her thought as she cried and shook her sister making the boat rock back and forth.

The girl paused when the sound of wings beating the air could be heard. The fog that was around the boat shifted and she looked up with tear blurred eyes to see a two headed dragon over them.

"Help! Please!" She didn't care who or what it was as long as it could help her sister.

* * *

><p>"You hear that?" Tuffnut asked his sister as they flew off on their dragon.<p>

"If you mean your stupid voice then yeah; I do." Ruffnut replied as she kept her eyes glued to the little light.

Tuffnut glared at his sister, but didn't retaliate. He could feel a tension coming from Belch and he wasn't sure what it meant. "Betcha it's a pirate!" Tuffnut grinned as he tried to get their dragon to go faster.

Ruffnut rolled her eyes but was unable to reply when their dragon suddenly stopped and flapped its wings to clear away the fog that was hovering around the glowing light directly below them.

The sounds the dragon and its riders had been hearing were clear now, but the source of the sounds shocked them all.

"Let's take the boat back to Berk." Ruffnut said after the momentary shock wore off. The twins fought for a moment on how to best get the boat to the docks before deciding to have Belch and Barf drag it with its tail.

* * *

><p>The girl was shocked for a moment to see people actually riding the Zippleback that had appeared over the boat she and her sister were in. Then again she honestly didn't care so long as they were going to help them.<p>

When the boat started moving the girl smiled through her tears. "Thank you! Thank you so much." Perhaps she was a little too trusting towards these strangers. Her sister and mother would have been more cautious, but the little girl was just grateful that someone had found them drifting through the sea.

"Sister! We'll be ok, just like you promised!" The little one hugged her sister and huddled against her trying to get warmth back into her. It wasn't long before the little girl spotted lights ahead of them and then what looked like jagged cliffs looming over them. "Just like mama promised." The little girl said softly as the island grew closer. She could see docks now as well as houses. Her eyes went wide as she spotted even more dragons hanging around the place they were going.

* * *

><p>Soon enough the zippleback that had been pulling the boat arrived at the dock. The two that had been riding it jumped down and called out for people to come help. The little girl barely heard what they were yelling, or the people coming towards them. She was focused on her sister.<p>

"Hey lazies, go get Hiccup." Ruffnut yelled at a couple of the younger teens that were close by cleaning the late catch. The two teens mumbled and grumbled, but after a whack on the head from Tuffnut and a duet of growls from Belch and Barf the teens got moving.

As the twins started to cause a racket, several people started gathering at the docks. Usually when the twins were loud and being annoying people just ignored them, but something was off about this fight. The two were arguing sure, but not in a way that was…normal for them. Even their two headed dragon was acting strangely. Instead of arguing in synch with its riders it was staring down at the little boat that it had dragged up to the docks. In fact its tail was still wrapped around part of the boat to keep it steady.

The crowd that had gathered, which had grown in numbers, was trying to look into the boat, but Belch and Barf were successfully in the way of everyone's line of sight.

"What's going on Ruffnut, Tuffnut? You're supposed to be on night patrol." A slightly annoyed Hiccup asked with a sigh as he arrived. His clothes looked like they'd been thrown on quickly, and his vest was missing. Astrid was right behind him with a rather agitated and angry look. There was also a bright blush on her cheeks.

"We found something Hiccup." Ruffnut said as she pointed her thumb behind her towards the boat.

"And it's not a stupid pirate!" Tuffnut added with a grin.

Hiccup frowned as he tried to look past Belch and Barf to see what it was that the twins had found. All he could see was the dragon.

"This better be good you two. I swear if you got us out of bed for nothing-" Astrid let the threat hang in the air. She rather disliked being pulled away during the only free time she had with her new husband.

"Hey Barf, Belch, could you guys move over some?" Hiccup asked as nicely as he could. The two headed dragon looked at the human warily, unsure if they should reveal what it was they had found. The two dragons argued quickly for a moment to try and decide if they should or not.

Toothless, who had just made his way to the docks after squeezing past the onlookers, spoke up to break up the short fight. _"Move or get a blast to the face."_ His voice was calm as he challenged the zippleback and his expression was bored, but the dragons knew he was being completely serious.

Belch and Barf let go of the boat and lifted up into the air to make room for Hiccup, Astrid, and Toothless. As the three approached they saw something that no one had ever dreamed of seeing.

"Is…is that what I think it is?" Astrid asked first in order to break the silence.

* * *

><p>The little one looked up hopefully when things started to happen on the dock. "Help my sister! Please! She won't wake up and she's so cold." She begged and begged, looking from the zippleback to the people standing not too far from it. No one did anything for several long minutes and it was making the little girl cry harder.<p>

She pushed at her sister again and went back to huddling next to her hoping that maybe she could warm her up again. The little one was so focused on this task that she failed to realize that the zippleback had moved away and that more people were standing over her little boat.

"Is…Is that what I think it is?" She heard a female voice ask in shock.

The girl looked up, tears dripping down her face. "Won't you help us?" She begged softly. "Please help us. I'll do anything." The girl looked from the tall man to the equally tall woman. Her eyes paused over the black night fury that was staring at her with wide shocked eyes.

"I can't believe it." The man said with a shake of his head. Inside that little boat, huddled next to the still woman, was a small white night fury barely twice the size of a terrible terror.

* * *

><p>AN:

After watching the second movie (I can not even begin to express how awesome it was) I decided to make a small alteration to the plot. It really doesn't change much; in fact it makes the plot flow much nicer. I'm going to integrate what happened in the second movie into this story. I'm not going to say what I'm changing just in case some of you wonderful readers haven't seen the movie yet. Which you need to go do. Cause it's epic. And totally worth seeing on a huge screen.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the movies, books, or tv series. I do own a copy of the movies though. Does that count for anything?

Night and Day

Chapter 2:

Previously:

The girl looked up, tears dripping down her face. _"Won't you help us?" _She begged softly. "_Please help us. I'll do anything."_ The girl looked from the tall man to the equally tall woman. Her eyes paused over the black night fury that was staring at her with wide shocked eyes.

"I can't believe it." The man said with a shake of his head. Inside that little boat, huddled next to the still woman, was a small white nigh fury barely twice the size of a terrible terror.

* * *

><p>There was silence for what seemed like eternity as the people and dragons of Berk stared down at the crying white nightfury; who was staring back up at them helplessly.<p>

Toothless was the first to break free from the shocked silence. He shook his head lightly as if to see if it was a dream. When the small white night fury continued to sit there staring up at him from her boat he knew it had to be real.

"_We will help you little one,"_ Toothless told the scared little girl as he reached down with his paws to help her out of the boat. "_Come on out."_

Hiccup waited to see what would happen when Toothless started making small grumbling and purring sounds down to the little white nightfury. Time stood still as the little one stared with wide eyes up at Toothless as if unsure as to what to do.

"_My sister-"_ The little nightfury looked down at the still form of the woman she had been huddled next to. "_She won't wake up."_ Suddenly the little nightfury was unsure as to if she could trust these people and dragons. She knew what most humans did to dragons, she knew it very well.

As if sensing her thoughts Toothless softened his voice. _"These are good humans. Kind and caring. They will not harm you or your sister."_ He kept his voice as soothing and confident as possible as he continued to reach out to her. "_I give you my word as a nightfury._" That promise seemed to be enough for the little white nightfury for she stepped away from her cold sister and was quickly lifted out of the boat by the dark nightfury.

Toothless quickly and smoothly backed away from the boat to let the humans retrieve the unmoving woman in the boat. He cradled the small white in his arms, his body curling around her and his wings blocking her from the rest of the world.

Toothless was amazed by what he held against his chest. For such a long time he had thought he was the last nightfury alive, and now a hatchling had been brought to them by the tides of fate. Her coloring confused him and made him curious, but his senses told him that she was in fact a nightfury through and through.

"_Where are your parents little one?"_ Toothless asked gently as he cuddled the hatchling.

The little nightfury was shaking a little against the older nightfury. _"I never met Father." _Her voice wavered as she tried to explain about her mother. "_We were attacked. Mama stayed behind to hold them off. I don't know what happened after that." _

This answer intrigued and worried Toothless. "_And what is your name little one? And your Sister's?"_ Toothless didn't know how the little nightfury had come to call a human her sister, but after being around humans for so many years he understood how humans could feel like family.

"_Morning Star."_ Star mumbled her name shyly. "_Mama and Brighid call me Star though." _

Toothless nodded. He assumed that her sister must be Brighid then. "_Welcome to Berk then little Star. My name is Toothless." _

Star was starting to feel very tired now that she was warm and being cuddled by Toothless. She hadn't slept for over a day and she could feel exhaustion creeping up on her. Just as her eyes were drifting closed she heard a splash and several humans curse.

"_My sister! What are they doing with Brighid?"_ Star asked once again wide awake. She was too tired and weak to pull away from Toothless to see, but she could still hear what was going on. The humans were talking quietly so she couldn't quite catch what was being said.

Toothless could see exactly what was going on, and it made him cover Star with his wing tighter. Hiccup and the others were able to lift the woman out of the boat, but even after being jostled she still didn't wake up. He watched as Hiccup put a hand to the woman's chest and then her neck to check for life. After a minute of searching he shook his head sadly.

Toothless cringed in sadness. Little Star had already lost her mother and now…now it would seem she had lost her sister. He understood loss, having lost his parents long before he had been captured by the dragon queen, but he had been a full grown nightfury when that had happened. Star was just a little hatchling.

He held onto Star as she struggled weakly against his arms to try and get free and go to her sister. "_They are…they are taking her someplace safe."_ Toothless told the little nightfury as one of the strong Vikings lifted up the dead woman to carry her away. _"Rest."_

Star didn't want to rest; she wanted to be with her sister. The comfort and warmth that Toothless was radiating was too much for her to fight against and her eyes drooped shut. Within seconds she was fast asleep.

Toothless waited a few more minutes before gently picking Star up and settling her in the crook of his wing. Carefully he carried her away from the docks and towards the house that had been built for Hiccup and Astrid. It was a nicely sized house, with an addition to the side that was for him to live in. It had been built because Astrid did not like sharing her and Hiccup's room with Toothless.

Pulling up his fire once he arrived Toothless burned the stone slab that acted as his bed. The stone heated up nicely allowing Toothless to curl up. Once he was comfortable he unfurled his wing to gently slip Star between his front paws. He stared down at the sleeping white nightfury and a small smile appeared on his face.

As Star slept Toothless started to run his tongue across her back, carefully cleaning the brine off of her scales. The longer his tongue swept across the smaller nightfury the more glazed his eyes became. He could feel his protective instincts starting to grow for the younger nightfury.

Toothless paused in his cleaning of Star when the door connecting his room to the main house was opened. He purred softly when Hiccup stepped in.

"Hey bud." Hiccup said tiredly as he sat down next to the stone bed. "Is the little one asleep?" He asked as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. He let out a sigh when Toothless nodded slowly so as not to disturb the sleeping hatchling.

"I don't know what the relationship between the woman and the hatchling was…but I'm guessing they were very close?" Hiccup let out a very sad sigh when Toothless nodded once more. "The healer thinks the woman died several hours before they were found."

Toothless looked down at the little hatchling curled up between his paws. The poor thing hadn't even noticed that her sister had been dead when they had been rescued.

"She's more than welcome in the village. Several villagers have offered to take her in."

Just the idea of someone else taking care of Morning Star made Toothless growl. "_I will not let another raise her! She is mine to protect now." _Toothless had already promised little Star that she would be safe, and he was going to make sure of it.

Hiccup watched Toothless for a moment while he growled before chuckling. "Alright, I'll let everyone know." He had been pretty sure that Toothless would take the little white under his wings since he was the alpha dragon of the village and all; not to mention the fact that she was probably the only other nightfury Toothless had seen in a very long time. His smile fell as he looked at the white again. "The little one is going to be heartbroken when it finds out…isn't it?"

Toothless whimpered and nodded sadly. How was he going to tell her? How was Star even going to react? Would she blame them for the death of her sister or would she understand that she had died before even arriving?

For now Toothless was just going to get some sleep while his new ward was asleep. When the time came tomorrow, he would tell Star what had happened and support her.

"Night bud." Hiccup mumbled as he left Toothless' room. He heard his nightfury friend mumble his version of goodnight.

* * *

><p>For the first time in the last couple days Star awoke feeling completely rested. She yawned and stretched up against the warm body she had been resting against. Star froze in confusion; her mind a jumbled mess of memories. She remained perfectly still until she remembered just who it was she'd been sleeping against. Shocked and a little embarrassed Star tried to sneak away from Toothless.<p>

Her attempt to sneak away though failed as she felt Toothless lift up his head and move his front leg around to stop her from getting too far from him. "_I see you're awake. Did you sleep well?"_ Toothless asked smoothly as Star eeped and turned to look up at him shyly.

Star fidgeted with her tail tip for a moment. "_Yes thank you. Can I see my sister please?"_ Now that she was awake she wanted to see how her sister was doing.

Toothless flinched as if he had been slapped. "_Food first. Then we need to…to talk about something important." _He stood up to stop any protests that would come from Star and headed for the door leading outside.

Star whimpered softly as Toothless stood up and walked away. She wanted to see her sister, not eat! Her stomach though protested her priorities. With little choice in the matter, Star hopped off of the stone bed and followed after Toothless.

Of course it had been a few days since she'd last eaten anything. Star had offered to try and catch fish for them, but Brighid had thought it would be too dangerous for the little nightfury to even venture into the ocean water. Star knew how to swim, she knew how to fish, but with how turbulent the ocean had been and with how much fog there had been it just hadn't been safe.

Star followed Toothless out of the little building and had to blink several times before adjusting to the growing sunlight. When her eyes were clear she was awed by the sight before her. Dragons were wandering around the village and were flying with people on their backs. Star couldn't ever remember seeing so many dragons in one spot. One or two dragons would fly over her family's home, but nothing like this!

Toothless was standing a few feet away. He chuckled softly when he watched Star's expression. _"It's only been like this for a few years."_ He told her as she finally seemed to come out of her shock. "_I will tell you the story after you eat."_

Star nodded and soon enough she and Toothless were walking towards large bowl like structures were other dragons were gathered around. When they got close enough the other dragons made room for the two of them.

"_Is this her?" _One of the Deadly Nadders asked as Toothless picked up a piece of fish to put it on the ground for Star to eat. She wasn't quite big enough to reach into the bowl, even when she was on her hind legs.

"_Of course she is!" "How many white night furies have you met?" _The two voices of a Hideous Zippleback said with several snorts.

The Nadder growled. _"Shut it you two!"_ the Nadder hissed threateningly at the two heads. The Nadder stopped suddenly when it was knocked to the side by a grunkle trying to get to the fish.

Toothless rolled his eyes and let out one of his well-known laughs. "_Everyone. This is Morning Star."_ The little nightfury was working at her first fish when she was introduced.

The larger dragons crowded around to get a closer look at Star. She stopped in her eating for a moment to look up at the dragons that had gathered around her. She shifted a little and nervously went back to eating her fish. A second fish was set down in front of her when she finished the first.

Star paused for a moment when a third fish was set down. This time the Nadder had set it down. She knew she should probably stop eating, but after several days of nothing but water Star couldn't bring herself to not eat the fish.

The Nadder seemed awfully happy with herself when the little nightfury started eating the fish she'd given her. Star wasn't paying attention so she didn't hear how the Nadder talked about how maybe she should be the one to take care of Star. She also didn't notice when Toothless made a jab at the Nadder with his claws.

With the third fish finished Star took the time to look around. She still felt a little hungry and could probably be able to eat another fish. Unfortunately for her though Toothless was busy chasing the other dragons around. It didn't look like Toothless was trying to catch any of the dragons, in fact he was even laughing. Star just sat back and waited. Her mother had taught her to not interrupt her elders unless it was important.

That was how Hiccup found them. Toothless was chasing a Nadder while several Terrible Terrors had jumped on his back to try and slow him down. And there, sitting under the food bowl, sat the little white nightfury just watching. Hiccup frowned as he watched the entire scene.

"What is it Hiccup?" The Viking snapped out of his observations and turned to see his wife next to him.

Hiccup turned back to stare at the white nightfury. "Take a look at her. She looks just like a nightfury…but she certainly doesn't act like one." Hiccup rubbed the back of his head in thought. "She's just sitting there, watching the others as if she were waiting for something. She's not even trying to get their attention or join in." After years of spending time with Toothless, Hiccup had thought he had learned all about nightfury habits.

Astrid looked at the little white that they had gained the previous night. She certainly was acting odd. "Maybe she's just tired after her journey here? Who knows what happened out there." She punched at Hiccup's shoulder gently. "Give the little thing a few days. Maybe she'll end up being just like Toothless once she's rested?" Astrid groaned. "And then you'll be complaining about having a second Toothless."

Hiccup nodded but he was still frowning. He would need to keep a close eye on the little white. There was something off about the small nightfury.

After a few minutes of Toothless chasing the nadder in a play fight he returned to Star. He was perplexed to find her sitting exactly where she had been when he'd gone after the other dragons. Her tail had curled around her legs and she was looking up at him with her yellow eyes.

"_Can I have another fish?" _Star asked once she was sure Toothless had his attention firmly on her. Toothless nodded and scooped up one more fish for Star to eat.

It took her no time at all to eat the fish and lick her snout in satisfaction. Maybe she hadn't needed that fourth fish, but it sure did make her feel better. "_Can I go see my sister now? I want to see her!"_ When Toothless hesitated Star stood up and pushed her front paws on Toothless' chest. _"Pleaaaase?" _

Toothless sucked in his breath and then sighed. There was no way he was going to be able to get around this. He turned to start walking to the edge of town so he could talk to Star in private. There was no need to have others around her to give her the bad news.

Toothless looked back once to make sure Star was following him. He stopped once they were far enough away. They could see some dragons, but they were well out of earshot. "_Star…What was your home like?" _He was stalling, Toothless knew that, but he didn't know how to tell her the bad news.

When Toothless started walking away, Star had thought it was to take her to see Brighid her sister. But when they left town and stopped where the trees started growing in abundance she was confused. Why would the village bring her sister out here?

Star tilted her head when Toothless stopped and sat down. _"What? What do you mean?"_ Star shifted from paw to paw as she waited for an answer. Her eyes narrowed when Toothless's ear plates lowered.

Toothless smiled slightly. "_Tell me about your home; about your mother and sister."_

Star looked down at the ground and then up at the sky. She'd never thought about what her home had been like. "_Mom, Brighid, and I lived alone."_ That was the one fact that Star could never forget. _"We lived in the middle of this really big forest! Brighid taught me how to climb trees."_ She…didn't exactly know how to fly yet, but she knew how to climb. _"Mom taught me how to play hide and seek!"_ Their games had been a bit random, but Star had loved playing hide and seek. "_Brighid would hide with me."_ The game usually ended with their mother calling out that she'd given up.

Remembering her home made Star feel incredibly home sick. "_Can I see Brighid now?"_ She asked softly.

"_Star…"_ Toothless let out a sigh. _"I can take you to your sister but…she's not with us Star. She died before you arrived."_ He didn't know how else to say it other than to just tell her. With the short description of her home and family Toothless could tell she was close to her mother and sister. This was going to devastate her no matter how he told her.

Star froze. She looked up at Toothless silently. "_I-"_ Her voice failed her as she tried to speak. "_That's not-"_ It couldn't be true. Her sister had been asleep when they'd been in the boat. Star had tried to keep her sister warm using her own body heat. "_You're lying!"_ Star's voice was broken and her shoulders were shaking as she took a step back away from Toothless. "_My sister isn't dead! She can't be dead! I need her_!" With that Star turned and started running back into the village. She would find her sister with or without help.

Toothless was expecting Star to be angry, to yell and rage like a normal nightfurry would, but she wasn't. She looked scared, lost, and alone when she finally was able to speak again. "_Star wait!_" Toothless was slow on the uptake when Star started running back towards the village. He cursed and chased after her.

Star knew she wouldn't have much of a head start for long so she had to make it count. She paused for half a second once she made it back into town and took a long breath through her snout to pull in as many scents as she could. She could hear Toothless gaining on her, but it was too late; she had caught onto the scent she wanted.

Turning she darted away, past the surprised humans and confused dragons. She raced up a series of steps until she reached a hut that was overlooking the ocean with terrors playing around it. There was a roar behind her and several of the terrible terrors tried to stop her, but she was too quick for them.

Toothless couldn't believe just how fast Star was. He was barely catching up to her when he yelled for the Terrible Terrors to try and stop her. They had even less of a chance with her darting this way and that around them. Seconds after she was through the door he pushed it open.

Star was frozen in place when she heard the door open. She thought she heard Toothless say something behind her, but she didn't care. Her attention was on the still form laid out on a small cot. She took one step forward and then another until she was standing right next to the cot.

"_Brighid?_" Star nudged at the arm that was next to the edge of the cot. The still woman didn't move. "_Wake up Brighid!"_ Star placed her front paws on the edge of the cot so she could get a better look at her sister.

"_Star-"_ Toothless took a step inside but fell silent as the little white nightfurry crawled up onto the cot.

Silence filled the room as Star just curled up next to Brighid. She didn't say anything as she closed her eyes and laid her head down on her sister's stomach. She didn't roar in anger, she didn't rip or tear at anything, she didn't even act angry. Little Star just silently curled up in a tight ball and ignored Toothless even as he came inside and sat down next to the cot.

* * *

><p>AN: longer than planned. Minor edits made.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the movies, books, or tv series. I do own a copy of the movies though. Does that count for anything?

Night and Day

Chapter 3:

Previously:

"_Star-"_ Toothless took a step inside but fell silent as the little white night fury crawled up onto the cot.

Silence filled the room as Star just curled up next to Brighid. She didn't say anything as she closed her eyes and laid her head down on her sister's stomach. She didn't roar in anger, she didn't rip or tear at anything, she didn't even act angry. Little Star just silently curled up in a tight ball and ignored Toothless even as he came inside and sat down next to the cot.

* * *

><p>The entire village of Berk mourned for the unknown woman that had come to them with the little white nightfury. The sorrow that the little nightfury showed was enough to invoke the same sadness in others. For an entire two days the white nightfury stayed curled up next to the still form of her sister. She made not a sound and ignored everyone that came to see her including the elderly woman that lived within the hut.<p>

Toothless spent most of his time in the hut with Star. He only left once or twice a day, often bringing a fish back with him to try and get Star to eat. After the second day, he grew impatient. Toothless knew that Star was grieving, but he wasn't going to let Star starve herself.

_"That's enough Star."_ At the start of the third day of Star's grieving Toothless finally tried to pull the little white away from her sister. Hiccup was there with him, standing in the doorway and watching. He had his sketch book in hand and was making small notes.

Star slowly lifted her head to turn and look at Toothless. Her gaze looked empty and she didn't even seem to be staring at anything in particular. Hiccup gasped and his hand paused in his writing. The little white was crying; actually crying. He'd never seen a nightfury, let alone a dragon, shed actual tears before.

_"What's the point Toothless?"_ Star asked quietly. "_This isn't my home. I have no family now."_ She set her head back down on her sister's stomach.

Toothless's ear plates lowered and he shook his head. He had been lucky when he'd lost his parents. He had been old enough to survive emotionally. Star was different though. Nightfury hatchlings didn't survive long when they were alone. Nightfury hatchlings had to have a familial bond in order to live. Without that bond, the nightfury hatchling would waste away to nothing. The instinctual need a nightfury hatchling had to bond to their family was something that Toothless would never be able to explain.

_"You have me now Star." _Toothless was grasping at straws now. He didn't know if this would work to get Star to continue living. "_And you have Berk now. It's not the same…but it's here for you."_

Even though Hiccup couldn't understand what Toothless was saying to the little white he still held his breath. He could feel a tension in the air and he could tell that this was a moment that could change everything.

Toothless was holding his breath as well as he waited to see what Star would do. Slowly, ever so slowly, Star lifted her head again and turned to look at Toothless. The emptiness that had been her eyes lifted a little. "_No more sisters."_ Was the only thing she could say. "_No more mother's either. I won't replace them."_

Toothless had to swallow the chuckle that wanted to come up. The little hatchling was being completely serious. "_I will never make you replace your loved ones."_ He promised her. Toothless stood up and walked over to Star. Opening his mouth he made sure his teeth were retracted before picking Star up in his maw.

Star felt too exhausted to do anything but let Toothless pick her up. She looked at her sister one last time before closing her eyes. 'Bye Brighid.' Star thought silently. 'You'll always be my big sister.'

Hiccup moved out of the doorway to let Toothless past. There were a few people waiting outside along with their dragons. Star's eyes remained closed even as Toothless walked past the onlookers. His intention was to head out of village and go to the little lake where he and Hiccup had first met and bonded. That way the village would be able to take care of the body of Star's sister without her being there.

Hiccup nodded to the people waiting. A pyre had been built yesterday for the dead woman. Now seemed like a good time to take care of the final rights.

* * *

><p>Sometime during the long trek Star had fallen asleep. Although her mother had been human the feeling of being carried like an actual hatchling, in the mouth of an adult dragon, was comforting. She felt safe and protected.<p>

"_We're here Star."_ Star blinked her weariness out of her eyes and she looked around. Toothless was smiling down at her from where he had set her down between his paws.

She glanced around cautiously and noted the high rock walls and the glimmering lake. "_Where are we?"_ Star could feel her curiosity pushing at her sorrow.

Toothless's smile broadened. "_A very special place. This is where I met my Hiccup."_ The confused stare he got made Toothless chuckle. "_Hiccup is my rider and best friend." _Toothless tilted his head in thought. "_I guess you haven't actually met him yet. But he is a great person! He gave me back my flight years ago." _ Toothless lifted up his tail to show Star his false tail fin.

Star was slowly coming out of her sorrowed state. It would be months before she was really herself again, but this was a step in the right direction. "_Your tail…?" _Toothless moved his paws out of the way so Star could get up and go over to his tail to get a closer look at the leather tail fin.

Toothless was glad to see the little hatchling slowly focusing on other things. "_There was an…accident years ago." _Toothless frowned a little. No sense telling Star the entire story yet. "_Hiccup found me. I didn't trust him at first, but he was different than other humans." _Toothless proceeded to tell Star a very watered down story of what had happened all those years ago.

Star pawed absently at the false tail fin as she listened to Toothless. "_Did you mean what you said?"_ She asked once Toothless had ended his story.

_"I said several things." _Toothless replied with a chuckle.

_"About Berk being here for me?" _Star stopped patting the tail fin to look up at Toothless. "_About me having you?"_

As he looked at the little white nightfury Toothless could see fear in her gaze. She was afraid of being alone, and he knew that feeling all too well. He used his tail to lift and carry Star back to his front legs so he could hug her. "_I will never break my word to you."_ Toothless purred warmly and nuzzled the top of Star's head. "_And I will most definitely be here for you. Always."_

Star was more than comforted by Toothless's words. Her instincts told Star she could trust him, and that was enough for her. _"When will it stop hurting?" _She whispered softly.

Toothless sighed and shook his head. "_It never stops hurting. But it gets better. I promise."_ And he would help Star feel better. He had made a promise after all.

Star smiled softly and nodded. She hoped things would get better soon. The pain in her heart was almost too much for her. If Toothless hadn't promised to be there for her, she probably wouldn't have left her sister's body.

_"Come on,"_ Toothless suddenly stood up and nodded over to the water. "_Let's get some breakfast."_ He nudged Star with his paw, making her fall over onto her back. "_Unless you don't know how to swim?" _He arched a brow at her and let out a gurgling chuckle.

Star frowned up at Toothless before flipping over. "_Course I know how to swim!" _She said with as much pride as she could. With that said she pranced over to the water and quickly dove in. She made it all the way to the center of the lake before she returned to the surface for air.

Toothless let out a laugh and quickly joined her. The two spent at least an hour if not more just swimming around before catching some fish to actually eat. Star was rather proud of herself for catching two fish by herself for breakfast. Toothless had of course caught a lot more just to make sure that the two of them had plenty to eat.

"_What is Berk like?"_ Star asked as the two of them settled down to actually eat. She was leaning against Toothless's side with her two fish in front of her.

Toothless chuckled. "_Cold."_ He started to tell her. "_Snows a __lot and when it doesn't snow it hails."_ he swallowed a couple fish before continuing. "_It's a lot calmer now then it used to be. There are lots of places to explore and of course there is the Academy now." _

Star finished her first fish and tilted her head at Toothless. "_Academy? What's an academy?" _Having lived with just her mother and sister since she was really little she didn't know to much about the outside world.

"_It's a place you go to learn new things." _Toothless had to think for a moment. "_The academy here __teaches humans how to __be friends with dragons." _There was more to it then that, but Star was too little to fully understand. For now it was easier and simpler to just tell Star the basics of everything.

"_Do you go to this...academy?" _Star asked curiously. There were so many new things that she needed to learn about.

Toothless let out a gurgling chuckle and shrugged. "_Sometimes. I usually go with my Hiccup when he needs my help."_ he nudged at Star. "_Finish your fish before a terror comes along to eat it for you." _As if on que several terrible terrors started gliding around in the air above them.

Star huffed softly before pulling her second fish close so she could eat it. It was her fish; she had caught it by herself and she didn't feel like sharing at the moment. With that in mind she swallowed the fish and then licked her muzzle clean.

Toothless smiled a bit and then curled around Star. With her stomach full he could feel her heartbeat slowing. She was growing drowsy like any normal hatchling would after a big meal. "_Rest Star._" Toothless mumbled as he draped his wing over Star to make her more comfortable.

Star squirmed for a moment. She hadn't been planning on taking a nap, but with a full belly and an adult curled around her Star's instincts were pushing her into an unavoidable drowsy state.

Toothless waited until he was sure Star was fast asleep before he looked up at the sky. Taking a deep breath in he tried to pull in the scents drifting from the village. After years of living with the humans he knew what the tradition was for sending off the dead. A pyre was usually built so that the body of the deceased could be burned to ashes while it floated away into the ocean. In this frigid environment it was difficult digging burial plots so pyres were favored.

"_What is happening in the village?"_ Toothless asked one of the terrors that had landed a few feet from him.

The terror tilted its head and looked at Toothless. The glazed look and slow understand made Toothless grunt and roll his eyes. "_Wingless ones were putting logs together in a boat." _ Another terror landed and snapped at the first. It took up the description of current events. "_Another wingless one was on the logs."_

Toothless nodded sadly as he took in the terror's words. He didn't want to take Star back to the village until after the pyre had burned down and the boat was far from sight. By the sounds of it the humans were just getting ready to light the pyre. Not to long after he had asked the Terrors about the village he could smell a faint hint of smoke in the air. With a nod of his head he figured he would be able to take Star back before nightfall. That would give the boat to get far enough out to sea.

With a sigh Toothless slid his head under his wing to take a look at Star. She was curled up tightly and was cuddling up against his side. He smiled softly and flicked his tongue out to run across her back. Although Star grumbled softly in her sleep she didn't awaken while toothless cleaned her scales. After awhile of that Toothless placed his head on the ground and just stared at the white nightfury; a possessive glint in his eyes.

* * *

><p>Time passed slowly for Star as she slept. Her dreams floated past her in lazy waves and they seemed to mix with her memories. Her dreams gave her comfort as she dreamed of her mother and sister. The three of them were back home and Star was chasing dust motes around the stone floor as her mother prepared dinner and her sister mended ripped clothes.<p>

"_Don't ever have regrets Morning Star." Star looked up in her dream as her mother spoke. The elderly woman with greying brown hair that was pulled up into a loose bun looked down at her. Her brown eyes sparkled with sadness as she smiled. "I know I never did." Star tilted her head as her mother said that._

_"We'll see you again Star. But you better be all grown up with lots of great stories to tell us when we do meet again!" Star turned to her sister who had set the the shirt down to focus on her little dragon sister. _

_"Now be a good girl and behave yourself." Star chirped something as she looked back at her mother. She blinked rapidly and reached up a paw to rub at her eyes. She could have sworn her mother and sister were fading. "And don't forget to play hide and seek when you hear the distant horns." With that her mother and sister vanished from the dream._

Star opened her eyes and jolted awake. She cried out in fear and surprise when she found herself shielded by a large wing. It took her a minute or two to remember just where she was.

"_Not the best of dreams then?" _Toothless asked as Star calmed down. When she had jolted awake Toothless had come out of his meditative rest. His eyes narrowed and watched silently as Star jumped up and looked around her in confusion.

Star calmed down slowly and nodded. "_Mother and sister were there...We were home." _Her voice was filled with sadness and Toothless worried for a moment at the empty look in Star's eyes. She said nothing after that, but the emptiness was replaced with life again after a few minutes.

Toothless sighed and sniffed the air. The smell of smoke had faded greatly and the colors in the sky indicated it would be dusk soon. "_We should head back to the village." _Toothless would have been fine with sleeping in the cove, but he didn't know if Star would be alright with that. By the sounds of it she had been sleeping indoors for most of her life.

Star nodded and climbed up on Toothless' back when he nudged her up. Once he was sure Star wouldn't be falling off, Toothless spread his wings and jumped into the air. With the fake tail fin that let him fly on his own in place Toothless was able to get out of the cove and head back towards town.

Toothless let out a happy sigh as he soared through the sky. He preferred having his Hiccup with him when he flew, but this flight wouldn't last long so he wouldn't be too terribly upset. Toothless was momentarily distracted by the feeling of claws digging into his shoulders. He glanced back and was startled to see that Star was shaking in fright.

"_Star what is wrong?" _Toothless looked around quickly to try and locate the source of what was making Star so afraid. He couldn't see or sense anything dangerous around; so why was Star so scared?

Star was expecting the initial jump, otherwise how else would they have gotten out of the cove? What she didn't expect was for Toothless to gain more and more altitude until the two of them were flying over the forest. Star could feel herself start to shake and she kept her eyes on Toothless' back so she wouldn't have to see the ground so far below them.

"_Star answer me!" _Toothless quickly looked around and found a place to land. As soon as he touched down the little white nightfury was on the ground in a huddled ball. Toothless nudged at her and cooed for several minutes to get her attention.

It took Star several long minutes before she was able to finally get her voice back. "_Can't fly."_ Her voice was so soft that Toothless had to strain his ear plates forward to hear her.

Toothless was about to ask her about what she meant when it dawned on him; she'd never been around other dragons. Star had told him it had just been her, her mother, and her sister. She'd told him how her sister had taught her how to climb. But she hadn't had anyone to teach her how to fly.

The older nightfury frowned down at the smaller one in thought. "_Spread your wings Star."_ He waited and let out a huff when she didn't at first respond. He nudged and nuzzled her back until finally she stretched out her wings. "_Farther."_ He wanted to see her wings at their full extent. Once her wings were open all the way Toothless circled her.

Her wings looked large enough to fly with, and even though she was on the small side she was still big enough to start learning. Her tail fins looked fine as well so he was pretty sure she would be able to learn to fly rather quickly. One of her wings did droop slightly lower then the other, but Toothless was pretty sure it was because she was unused to opening them up as far as they could go.

_"Hop up. I'll run the rest of the way."_ Star's shaking had calmed considerably while Toothless had examined her wings. "_We'll start flight lessons tomorrow."_

Star climbed back up onto Toothless' back and held on as he began sprinting across the ground. She honestly didn't know if she wanted to learn how to fly. It wasn't that she was afraid of heights, she loved climbing as high as she could, it's just that she didn't trust her wings. About a year ago she'd fallen on her left wing and had broken it. Her mother had fixed it up and the wing had healed fine, but Star didn't know what would happen if she ever put actual strain on it. What if she started to fly and then fell like a rock? What if she broke her wing again like the last time she'd tried to fly on her own? Memories of falling out of a tree and flailing in an attempt to get her wings open to fly flashed through her mind and she shivered.

Toothless was acutely aware of the tension in the little nightfury on his back. Flying had definitely set something off in her and he wasn't sure what could be done about it. He'd have a talk with her tomorrow when they started her flying lessons.

* * *

><p>AN: Onto the next chapter! Minor edits. Nothing to worry about.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Don't own it. Want to own it. Who will donate to the cause?

Night and Day

Chapter 4:

Previously:

_"Hop up. I'll run the rest of the way."_ Star's shaking had calmed considerably while Toothless had examined her wings. "_We'll start flight lessons tomorrow."_

Star climbed back up onto Toothless' back and held on as he began sprinting across the ground. She honestly didn't know if she wanted to learn how to fly. It wasn't that she was afraid of heights, she loved climbing as high as she could, it's just that she didn't trust her wings. About a year ago she'd fallen on her left wing and had broken it. Her mother had fixed it up and the wing had healed fine, but Star didn't know what would happen if she ever put actual strain on it. What if she started to fly and then fell like a rock? What if she broke her wing again like the last time she'd tried to fly on her own? Memories of falling out of a tree and flailing in an attempt to get her wings open to fly flashed through her mind and she shivered.

Toothless was acutely aware of the tension in the little nightfury on his back. Flying had definitely set something off in her and he wasn't sure what could be done about it. He'd have a talk with her tomorrow when they started her flying lessons.

* * *

><p>Star held onto Toothless's back as he ran through the forest and back towards the village of Berk. She couldn't stop thinking about flying now that it was on her mind. Star had been envious of the dragons that would fly over her families little home, but she'd always been too little to even try to glide. Whenever Star had brought up flying her mother would always look worried. Star frowned slightly; no her mother had been more then worried. Her mother would glance around and wring her skirt nervously like she was afraid of something.<p>

The little white nightfury shook her head. Her mother hadn't been afraid of anything! Star could remember many situations where her mother had had to face something dangerous and the elder woman had never even seemed concerned.

Star's sister had also seemed worried about Star learning how to fly though. They would both tell her she was to little to fly and since Star was still a hatchling and hadn't known any other dragons she had just believed them. Now though...the more she thought about it...it had seemed strange that her mother and sister had been so against her learning how to fly.

Star was deep enough in her own thoughts that she didn't at first notice when Toothless slowed. They were in the village before she knew it. Her thoughts stopped abruptly when she was suddenly not on Toothless' back.

"Here's the little white!" One of the humans of Berk had walked up behind Toothless when he had slowed down to walk through the village. The human, whom Star would later learn to be Snotlout, had picked up Star and was holding her up away from Toothless.

Star, in a flash of panic from being picked up by a stranger, let out a high pitch squeak. It was an instinctual sound meant to call for a hatchlings mother. Toothless, having already decided that he would be Star's protector, responded to the sound instantly and tackled Snotloud. The Viking was so surprised that he let go of Star and just blankly stared up at the snarling adult nightfury.

Toothless huffed at him and then retracted his teeth to pick Star back up. The little white had curled up into a defensive ball when she had been dropped. Toothless was still growling even when he had Star safely in his mouth.

"Okay buddy, I think they get it." Toothless' growling quieted as he looked up at his Hiccup. He let out a snort and then got off of Snotlout so that the viking could stand back up. Toothless let out one last warning growl and turned to walk towards the his home.

Snotlout dusted himself off once he was standing again. "What's got into him?" He asked with an awkward wave of his hand. He heard Hiccup chuckle and the dark haired viking just frowned at his cousin. "What? What's so funny?" Snotlout really was at a complete loss.

Hiccup shook his head and reached out to pat Snotlout's shoulder. "Would you let someone randomly grab your daughter?" Snotlout had only recently gotten married and his wife had even more recently given birth to a little baby girl.

Snotlout frowned. "Well no! But that's different!" He sputtered a little when Hiccup just chuckled and shook his head.

"Toothless is just being protective. The little white nightfury is probably scared out of its mind right now." Hiccup sighed as he looked around. "It's in a new place with lots of new people. Give it some space for awhile before you try to pick it up again." Hiccup wasn't sure if his cousin would take his advice to heart, but it had been worth a shot to at least warn him. "Otherwise Toothless might do more then just tackle you next time."

* * *

><p>Toothless was now in a foul mood as he walked into his home with Star safe in his maw. He set her down for a moment so he could blast his stone bed with his flame. Once it was hot enough he picked Star back up and then hopped up onto the stone bed. She was saying something to him, but he was too busy getting her settled between his paws so he could lick her clean.<p>

_"Toothless_?" Star had calmed down rather quickly when Toothless had picked her up after the human had dropped her. She'd been more surprised then afraid anyway. Toothless didn't respond to her even when they made it back to Toothless's home. "_Toothless are you ok?_" She asked when he set her down once they were inside. He still didn't say anything as he heated the stone slab and then picked her back up.

Star huffed when he started licking her back. She turned between his paws and put her own paws on the tip of Toothless's snout to get his attention. Star pushed at his snout and glared at him when he stopped licking and just stared back at her.

Toothless was rather surprised when the hatchling he had been trying to clean turned and pushed at his snout. He was even more surprised to find that she was glaring at him. He wasn't sure if her glaring was more adorable or interesting. "_What_?" His question just made Star huff again.

"_I asked if you were ok."_ Star couldn't really hold the glare anymore so she settled back down between Toothless' paws.

Toothless tilted his head for a moment before chuckling softly. "_I'm fine. Snotlout should not have grabbed you like that."_ Toothless shrugged and went back to trying to clean Star's scales.

Star squirmed as Toothless' tongue went across her back. She tried to push his tongue away, but he just ignored her. Star wasn't exactly used to this form of a bath. The little hatchling stopped squirming only when Toothless gave her a soft warning growl. Star just huffed again and held still as she waited for the older nightfury to finish giving her a bath.

"_There,"_ Toothless said once he was finished. Giving little Star a bath hadn't taken that long really; it had gone a lot faster once she'd stopped squirming. "_Was that so bad?"_ He tilted his head and grinned at her.

The hatchling between his paws made a grumbling sound which made Toothless laugh. Star stuck her tongue out at him and curled up into a little ball.

Toothless smiled down at Star as she curled up to get some sleep. A soft hum started in his chest as he put his head down next to Star. His wings came around to cover his head as well as Star. Toothless closed his eyes and waited until he was sure Star was sound asleep before he allowed himself to fall asleep as well.

* * *

><p>Mornings in Berk always started early; a viking had to get up early in order to get anything done! That's what was on Astrid's mind as she climbed out of bed with a groan. She rubbed her eyes for a moment and then glanced behind her at her still sleeping husband. She sighed and stood up to glare down at the sleeping man.<p>

"Rise and Shine Hiccup!" Astrid grinned as she lifted a foot and kicked Hiccup in the side. She heard his trade mark 'why'd you do that' and chuckled. "It's time to get up. You have a new class to train down at the Academy remember?" Astrid was tempted to land another kick, but Hiccup sat up with a glare. "Not to mention you have to check on your apprentice at Gobber's shop."

Hiccup yawned and stretched. "I still don't understand why you have to kick me in the mornings." He threw off the blankets and carefully climbed out of the bed. "I'm the chief so you should be a little nicer." Without even asking, Astrid had already set his false leg down on the bed next to him.

Astrid grinned and shrugged. "I don't kick you that hard. You're just a big baby." Astrid leaned forward to kiss Hiccup on the cheek. "And as the chief's wife I get special butt kicking privileges." With that said and done she dressed and headed out of their bedroom to go down the the common room to make something for them to eat. Porridge was usually what they had for breakfast so she set about on making some.

Hiccup sighed and smiled fondly as Astrid dressed and then left. With practiced movements he attached his fake leg and stood up to make sure it was on correctly. He took one step and then another before nodding to himself.

Hiccup was dressed and down in the common room of their house by the time the porridge was done. "I think I'll ask Toothless if he and the little one want to come as well."

Astrid looked up at Hiccup as he came down the stairs and then sat down. "Are you sure Toothless will be ok with going?" She asked him as she handed him a bowl of porridge. "It's only been four days. After what he did to Snotlout Toothless is probably still really protective."

Hiccup rubbed the bridge of his nose and then shrugged. "Doesn't hurt to ask." He frowned a bit. "Any ideas on what to name the hatchling?"

The two were silent for a few minutes. "Usually the rider names their dragon." Astrid said slowly. "Maybe you could ask the village? Have a vote?" She knew Hiccup loved the whole voting thing.

Hiccup nodded and grinned. "Yeah, good idea Astrid!" He finished up his porridge and then handed the bowl back to her. "I'll go see if the two of them are up and then head to the academy."

Astrid smiled and shook her head as Hiccup stood up and went over to the door that separated the common room to the addition that had been added on for Toothless.

As per his usual Toothless was wide awake when Hiccup came into his room. The black nightfury lifted up his head to look at his human friend and grinned at him. Between his front paws the little white hatchling was curled up and still fast asleep.

"Hey bud." Hiccup smiled as he walked over and ran a hand along Toothless's jaw. "You want to come to the academy with me today?" He chuckled when Toothless looked down at the sleeping white nightfury. "You can bring the hatchling with you." Hiccup frowned for a moment and then knelt down so he could get a closer look at the little white.

Hiccup was trying to determine what gender the little white nightfury was as he stared at her. If nightfuries were anything like the other dragon species then there might be some physical differences between male nightfuries and female nightfuries; besides the obvious of course. He and the others had been calling the little hatchling 'she', but he hadn't known for sure what she was.

With a quick glance at Toothless to make sure he could touch the little white Hiccup lifted the hatchling's hind leg.

Star had been sleeping soundly when she felt someone grab her leg. Since the hold on her ankle was gentle Star didn't really feel the need to panic; it helped that Toothless was letting out a gentle rumble. Star did let out a disgruntled squeak for being woken up, but other then that she didn't move.

Hiccup, satisfied with what he found, nodded and let go of the little female's leg. "Well that's one question answered." He stood up and smiled at Toothless. "I'll meet you at the academy if you decide to come." He turned and headed out of Toothless's room to go outside.

"_What was that about?" _Star mumbled as she felt Toothless start to clean her face and the top of her head. She grumbled softly but was too tired to really move. The stress of the last few days had finally caught up to her and now she was feeling the exhaustion.

Toothless chuckled and just kept cleaning Star to help her wake up. "_My Hiccup was just seeing what you were."_ He grinned as Star just continued to grumble. _"Humans can't smell things like we can._" He prodded at Star's side to get her to stand up. "_So they have to look at things to learn."_

Star let out a wide yawn and when she was prodded at she stood up. She felt Toothless shift next to her and soon enough she was being picked up and carried around in Toothless's maw.

_"I can walk!" _Being moved around was enough to wake Star up fully. "_I'm awake, I won't fall over."_ Even though she liked the feeling of being carried around she knew she could walk on her own. She wasn't some fragile little hatchling that needed to be carried around from place to place.

As it was Toothless didn't put Star down until they were out of the house and at one of the food bowls. It was early enough that the early morning catch was just being dumped into the bowls for the dragons. Once there was enough fish in the bowl Toothless reached in and pulled out a couple for Star to eat.

"_What are we doing today Toothless?"_ Star asked as the black nightfury set the fish down in front of her. She happily attacked the fish with gusto.

Toothless swallowed a couple fish of his own before answering the little white hatchling. "_We're going to the academy today."_ That little tidbit of knowledge didn't slow Star down at all and he put down another fish for her.

Star finished her third fish before she responded. "_Is that the place you were telling me about? Where people learn?"_ She shook her head when a fourth fish was offered to her. After having eaten so much in the past few days her hunger was finally abating.

Toothless nodded while he swallowed a few more fish. Once he was satisfied Toothless hopped down from the rim of the fish bowl and nodded for Star to follow him. "_It is. I'll teach you the basics of flying while we're there."_ The floor of the arena was soft enough so that Star could fall without hurting herself. Other dragons with hatchlings often went there to help their hatchlings get used to humans. As much as Toothless disliked the idea of sharing the little white hatchling he knew it would be best for her to make friends with other hatchlings and young humans.

By the time Toothless and Star arrived at the arena part of the academy Hiccup had already warned the preteens not to crowd or attempt to pick up Star. Toothless was pleased with this preemptive move by his Hiccup and felt a little better about letting Star near the younger humans.

Star on the other hand felt very nervous when she spotted the group of preteens. Having grown up with just her mother and sister she was unused to so many humans in one place.

_"You can't learn to fly if you hide under me." _Toothless chuckled when he felt Star dart underneath him to hide behind one of his legs. She was just small enough to fit under him while he walked so long as she crouched down.

"Hey bud! We were just talking about you two." Hiccup waved for Toothless to come over. The older viking watched with curiosity as Toothless came over with the little white hatchling trying very hard to hide beneath him. This tactic failed though when Toothless sat down and pushed Star out from behind his forelegs.

Hiccup knelt down to get a closer look at the small white hatchling now that she was awake. With how nervous she looked Hiccup didn't try to touch her. "Hey there little one." He kept his voice quiet while he dug around in his pocket. Very slowly and with exaggerated movements he pulled out some of the grass from his pocket that all the dragons seemed to love. He held the bundle out to Star and held very still as he waited to see what she would do.

Very slowly Star scooted away from Toothless and towards the green stuff that was being held out to her. From the distance she was at she could tell that the grass smelled nice, but it wasn't until she was closer that she realized just how nice the grass smelled. Her nose touched the grass so she could get a good whiff of it. Within seconds she was rubbing her head against Hiccup's hand to get as much of the grass smell on her as she could. Star had never smelled anything like it before and it made her squirm with delight.

If there was one person that Toothless could trust with Star it was his Hiccup. He smiled happily when Star warmed up to Hiccup and began rubbing her head against Hiccup's hand.

"And that's what you do when you meet a young dragon." Hiccup said as he looked back at the group of preteens that were watching with interest. "You need to show the hatchling that you mean no harm. A little dragon nip helps as well." He scratched Star's head and neck and chuckled when she started purring.

Star was having a good time rubbing her head in the grass and getting all sorts of scratches and pets from the human. "_That's my Hiccup."_ She heard Toothless say at one point as she continued to have a good time with the attention. Knowing that this human was the friend of Toothless made up Star's mind and once the man was sitting down she crawled into his lap.

Hiccup smiled and laughed as the little white nightfury crawled into his lap and rolled over so he could rub her belly. "Today I'll teach you how to introduce yourself to a new dragon. The first impression is important; especially if you want to become the dragon's rider."

"Hiccup sir," One of the younger girls asked as she raised her hand. "What's the nightfuries name?"

Hiccup looked over at Toothless and then down at Star who was purring in his lap. "We haven't decided yet. Since she's to young to have a rider I thought maybe we could decide as a group?"

The preteens all started talking excitedly as they tried to come up with names for the little white hatchling. Star at first didn't understand what was going on, but after a few simple names were directed at her realization hit.

"_Toothless! Why are they giving me names?" _Star asked in distress as she stopped purring and flipped back over in Hiccup's lap. "_I have a name! It's Morning Star!" _

Toothless shook his head and shrugged his shoulders as best he could. "_They don't know that. I will still call you Star, but they need something to call you too." _It was a tradition now for the dragons to have two names. Some dragons chose to keep just the name their human would give them, others liked having two names. Toothless himself had abandoned his dragon name when Hiccup had named him.

Star didn't like this idea at all of getting a new name. Morning Star had always been her name for as long as she could remember and she was pretty sure her mother had been the one to give it to her. "_I don't want another name." _she whimpered softly. Star looked at her claw for a moment and then reached out of Hiccup's lap to start scratching at the dirt in front of him.

"Call her Whitey!" "No way, name her Snow!" "How about Misty?" "Little Cloud!" Hiccup couldn't help but smile as all the preteens listed off the names that they could think of. A bump against his stomach caused him to look down. Hiccup's eyes went wide as he looked down at the ground where Star had been clawing at. After a few minutes more of the preteens talking about names Hiccup looked back up. "Those are all great names."

Hiccup lifted Star out of his lap and stood up. His movements caused Star's scratches to get brushed away. "She's a nightfury..." Hiccup started to say slowly. "How about something that has to do with night?"

The group was quiet for a moment before the young girl from earlier raised her hand again. "How about Star? Star's are white." Hiccup clapped his hands and nodded with a big grin. "Perfect idea! We'll call her Star!" And with that the group went back to their lesson.

* * *

><p>By the time Hiccup made it home that evening Astrid was already home with a plate from the great hall for him. She'd spent the day training with her own dragon and then had gone out with some nets to try and get some fish.<p>

"How did it go?" Astrid asked when she heard the door open behind her. She turned her head and did a double take. Hiccup was standing there with a perplexed and confused distant stare. "What? What happened Hiccup?" Astrid asked worriedly as she stood up and went over to her husband.

Hiccup shook himself out of his thoughts and looked at Astrid with a slight frown. "Everything went fine. Better then fine." He walked past Astrid and went over to sit down so he could eat his food. "I spent the morning teaching the class how to approach and introduce themselves to dragons. They practiced on the white nightfury." He rubbed his forehead and his frown grew. "When they weren't trying to meet the white nightfury Toothless was teaching her how to fly. I think."

Astrid watched Hiccup worriedly as he rambled on about what had happened at the academy. "Why do you look like you were forced to fight a dragon then?" She punched Hiccup on the arm when he didn't answer her right away.

"She can write." Hiccup said with a gasp of pain. "The white nightfury. She knows how to write." He looked up at Astrid with a bewildered frown. "And her name is Star."

* * *

><p>AN: Here's chapter 4. It went longer then I had planned, but the whole point of the chapter was for Hiccup to find out that Star knows how to write.

We all know night furies are smart. But how smart? Take a night fury hatchling and have humans raise it and I bet you money that night fury would be super intelligent.

Minor edit. Nothing serious. If you've already read this chapter the edit really doesn't change anything.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Don't own it. Want to own it. Who will donate to the cause?

A/N: For those that have read this chapter: I went through and made some minor edits. Nothing has really changed from the original chapter.

Night and Day Chapter 5:

Previously:

"How did it go?" Astrid asked when she heard the door open behind her. She turned her head and did a double take. Hiccup was standing there with a perplexed and confused distant stare. "What? What happened Hiccup?" Astrid asked worriedly as she stood up and went over to her husband.

Hiccup shook himself out of his thoughts and looked at Astrid with a slight frown. "Everything went fine. Better then fine." He walked past Astrid and went over to sit down so he could eat his food. "I spent the day teaching the class how to approach and introduce themselves to dragons. They practiced on the white night fury." He rubbed his forehead and his frown grew. "When they weren't trying to meet the white night fury Toothless was teaching her how to fly. I think."

Astrid watched Hiccup worriedly as he rambled on about what had happened at the academy. "Why do you look like you were forced to fight a dragon then?" She punched Hiccup on the arm when he didn't answer her right away.

"She can write." Hiccup said with a gasp of pain. "The white nightfury. She knows how to write." He looked up at Astrid with a bewildered frown. "And her name is Star."

* * *

><p>"W-what?" The silence that had filled the room was broken when Astrid was finally able to say something. "But...Toothless...You and your mother both tried teaching Toothless how to write, but he never understood."<p>

Hiccup ran a hand through his hair and leaned back in the seat. He was silent for a few minutes as he looked up at the ceiling of the room. "I have a theory." Hiccup said slowly. "I think she's a sub species...like the screaming death was." It was the only thing that made sense. Nightfuries were so rare and up until a few years ago they had never been seen before. A white nightfury would have been impossible up until a few days ago.

"So...what does that mean Hiccup?" Astrid asked slowly. She remembered the screaming death and she hoped to never see the giant dragon ever again.

"It means whatever we know about nightfuries might not be true with her." Hiccup covered his eyes. "It's possible that she's young enough to learn things an adult nightfury can't. I don't know what to do. This is...this is all new territory."

Astrid smiled a bit and walked over to Hiccup. She waited a moment before punching him in the arm. "Then do what you do best."

Hiccup yelped and rubbed his arm. "Something stupid?" He smiled goofily up at his wife.

"Learn." With that Astrid turned and headed up stairs leaving her befuddled husband behind to his thoughts.

Hiccup chuckled as Astrid left. She was right of course; Astrid was almost always right. Having such a strange nightfury around was the chance of a life time for Hiccup. With Star so young it meant he would be able to observe her as she grew up and he would even get the chance to teach her things. He'd be able to really enlarge what they knew about nightfuries in a way that no one would ever be able to again.

As excited as Hiccup was, and he was very excited, he was going to keep the knowledge that Star could write a secret. Until he could figure out just how smart the little nightfury was he wouldn't tell anyone. Even after years of being with the dragons there were still some vikings that were nervous about new dragons.

Hiccup stayed up for a few more hours before finally dimming the fire and heading upstairs. He'd finished his meal and made a few entries into his journal. Tomorrow he would take Star to his mother to see if she knew anything about the little white nightfury.

* * *

><p>10 Years went by and soon enough that little hatchling that has been brought to Berk by the tides of fate grew up into a graceful and slender nightfury. During those early years the people of Berk would come to learn that Star was a one of a kind dragon; not even Valka, who had over 20 years of knowledge and experience when it came to dragons, knew exactly what Morning Star was. All Valka could confirm was the fact that Star was physically exactly the same as a regular nightfury; other then her abnormal coloring.<p>

Despite the mysteries surrounding Star the people of Berk grew fond of the orphaned dragon. During her time with the people of Berk Star became comfortable enough to call the village her home and the people and dragons within it her family. Although she never forgot her original home with her mother and sister, Star knew she had found a home with the people and dragons of Berk; just as Toothless had promised.

_"Come on Toothless! I want to see who's in the new class!"_ Another cold morning came to Berk and the slender white nightfury was bouncing around the room she shared with Toothless. The room, which had been originally intended for one dragon, had been expanded over the years since Star had shown no inclination to choose a rider.

Star jumped up onto a wall and pushed off so she could get high enough to tackle Toothless. She let out a mock roar and gnawed on one of his ear plates with her teeth retracted. She squeaked when Toothless rolled, effectively knocking her off of his back and onto the floor. Star did a full roll and grinned up at the sleepy older nightfury once she was back on her stomach.

After a couple weeks had passed since Star had arrived, the town of Berk had discovered that the white nightfury was a very early riser. Her shyness had faded as time passed and as the nightfury grew it was almost customary to see Star bouncing around outside before the sun was even up. Her curiosity growing up had gotten the little nightfury into enough trouble that Hiccup had had to talk to Star about her staying with Toothless until the fish bowls were filled. This led to Toothless being the target of the curious and hyper hatchling, and he learned very quickly how to handle it.

_"Toooothless! Wake uuuuup."_ Star whined as she put her front paws on the older nightfuries neck and pushed. _"I wanna go to the academy!_"

Even though Toothless was a fine morning dragon he wasn't the morning dragon that Star was. Now he had a vague notion as to why she'd been named 'Morning Star'. So when Star woke up and started bouncing around the room Toothless had simply ignored her so he could get a little extra sleep. Ignoring her had become more difficult as she grew in size.

_"No one's even at the academy yet Star."_ Toothless rolled and looked at her through half opened eyes.

Star squinted at Toothless and huffed before getting off his neck._ "We could get there first!"_ She pointed out in an attempt to get Toothless to get up. "_Surprise the new class!"_

Toothless chuckled, but he gave in somewhat and lifted his head up. Even though he was awake and paying attention to the younger nightfury Toothless continued to lounge on his stone sleeping slab. He was silent for awhile which made Star squirm. When he nodded Star gave a happy yelp and quickly ran over to the door to open it with her head._ "We'll go fishing first for breakfast. That should give people plenty of time to wake up."_ Toothless stretched on his stone slab before getting up and following Star out the door.

As they left the village and headed for the little glade Toothless took the time to really look at Star. She'd grown a lot over the last 10 years. As was usual for a female nightfury she was smaller then he was, but she was more slender and her fins were larger then his. Star probably wouldn't grow much more in size though. She was still rather young for a nightfury and she wouldn't fully mature for another couple years.

That last thought made Toothless pause for a moment. He'd been really thinking about what would happen to Star once she fully matured. From what he could remember from his mother's teachings once a female nightfury was fully matured she started looking for a life mate. Would Star leave them when that happened? Or perhaps she would consider...Toothless shook his head to stop the thought. They had a few years before anyone had to worry about that.

_"Come on slow poke! We'll never make it to the glade at this rate!"_ Star had gone on ahead while Toothless had been lost in thought. Toothless felt a rumble in his chest build up when he looked up at Star. She'd climbed up onto a rock before looking back to find him. The way the morning light played off her scales was breath taking.

Toothless shook his head again. _"Go on ahead. I'll catch up."_ He could have sworn he heard Star grumble about him being an old man before rushing off. Toothless chuckled at that; he was definitely a lot older than Star was.

Once he was alone Toothless had time to actually think. What in the world was wrong with him? Ever since Star had grown up into a full sized adult he'd been having these sorts of thoughts a lot. He'd raised her as his own so he should only see her as his daughter...shouldn't he?

_"Toothless?"_ Toothless jumped in surprise and looked to his left to find a worried Star standing close to him.

_"I thought you were going on ahead."_ Toothless' surprise doubled as the smaller white female came up and nuzzled the side of his head. "What are you doing Star?"

Star rumbled softly in her chest as she nuzzled Toothless._ "You've been acting really strange lately. Distant. You've been distant. And it worries me."_

When Star looked up at Toothless all he could see was her love and worry for him. His mind was made up and his decision was made when he saw the affection for him in Star's eyes . As much as he had dedicated himself to be her protection over the years he was in fact not her parent. He needed to stop trying to act like one and start acting like the single dragon that he was. With that in mind he grinned and pushed Star over. Toothless pounced on Star and nipped at her sides to make her laugh.

After making Star squirm and laugh from the tickle attack for a few minutes Toothless finally let her up. _"I'm fine Star. Just had a lot on my mind."_ Toothless let out an oof when Star head butted him in the side.

_"Don't worry me like that then! I thought you were sick or something!"_ She huffed in irritation at him before sticking her snout in the air and started walking for the glade again.

Toothless chuckled and sidled up next to Star so they could walk side by side._ "You're just worried I won't catch my own fish."_ Toothless laughed as Star swiped a paw at him.

_"That's right I am! Just because I'm the better swimmer doesn't mean you get out of catching your own breakfast."_ Now that Toothless seemed to be back to normal Star wasn't as worried. Hopefully whatever had been on his mind was gone now. She hated it when Toothless acted distant around her; it made her feel lonely.

Toothless chuckled and nudged Star as they walked. _"You always catch more fish. It's good to share."_

Star growled softly at Toothless and then snorted. _"My catch is my catch."_ Like all dragons Star was in fact possessive of her tasty fish.

The little cove with the lake was quiet when the two nightfuries arrived. The two enjoyed the serenity of the scene for a moment before Star let out a whoop and jumped into the air to dive right into the lake. She came up moments later with a wriggling fish in her mouth.

Toothless laughed and opened up his wings to glide into the lake as well. It took very little time for Toothless and Star to make two little piles of fish for them to eat. Toothless even tried to steal one of Star's fish only to get hit on the back of the head by her tail fins. Star didn't even look at him as she used her claws to draw her fish back over to herself so she could finish eating.

"One little fish won't hurt." Toothless grumbled softly as he ate his own fish. "You're smaller than me. You don't need as much food as I do!" He pouted at Star and made grumbling sounds to try and get her to give him some of her fish. She had in fact caught more fish then he had.

Star was silent as she finished her third and fourth fish before she flipped one up into the air at Toothless. She rolled her eyes as he caught it and swallowed it whole.

Toothless finished his pile and then went over to start batting at Star. He plopped down on top of her making Star squirm._ "I'm withering away! Woe is me! What a way for a majestic nightfury to die!"_

_"Get off!"_ Star squirmed and tried hitting Toothless on the stomach with her tail to try and get him to move. With him being so much larger Star really had no chance to get free. _"Fine! I was gonna give you the rest of my fish anyway!"_ She huffed and quickly stepped away when Toothless jumped off of her. He just let out his signature laugh and gobbled up the last of her fish. _"You're worse than a Terror!" _

_"And yet you love me!"_ Toothless laughed and ducked away from the playful swipe of Star's paw. _"You would never let a Terror eat your fish!_" He ducked again before opening up his wings to jump up into the air.

_"At least Terror's say thank you!"_ Star called up at her darker companion. She huffed and opened up her own wings. Once she was in the sky Star chased after the laughing Toothless. "_Maybe I'll go move in with the Terrors! They appreciate me!" _

Toothless laughed and led the way back to the village. The two of them had spent enough time with breakfast that the village was actually awake. Toothless made sure to nuzzle Star's neck once they were both on the ground. _"Thank you for the fish."_

Star grumbled a little but she did smile and give Toothless a nuzzle back. _"Next time catch your own._" She said as sweetly as possible before starting the walk to the academy.

The walk to the academy brought the two nightfuries right past the docks. _"I wonder what's going on?"_ Star wondered curiously as the paused. There was a commotion on the docks and several sea vessels were moored there. Star hung her head over the side of the cliff to look down at the docks. Her tail wiggled back and forth as she watched people go to and from the boats.

Toothless looked over at the boats and rolled his eyes. _"That looks like Trader Johann's boat._" He snorted when Star continued to wag her tail in curiosity.

_"Wonder why he's here? Do you think he has anything interesting?_" Ever since she'd first seen Trader Johann as a hatchling she'd been fascinated. Just the very idea that he could bring things to Berk from around the world made her curious about what was out there. Star had voiced to Toothless that she didn't want to leave Berk, but she did find the outside world to be at least interesting.

Toothless poked at Star with his tail._ "I thought you wanted to go to the academy?"_ He pointed out to her as she inched ever further over the edge.

Star stopped in her forward inching motion and looked at Toothless with big eyes. _"I did didn't I? But I didn't know Johann would be here!"_ She continued to use her big eyes as she looked at Toothless. "_Can't we look? For a moment?"_

Toothless let out a long sigh. He didn't understand why Star was so fascinated by human things. There was natural nightfury curiosity, but she actually collected baubles. Hiccup had built shelves in their room back home so Star would have a place to keep her things. It didn't help that his Hiccup actually bought the things for her when she found something she liked.

_"After the academy. You need Hiccup with you._" Even though Johann was respective of Berk's dragons he had never really gotten used to having them on his boat. The trader did seem to like Star enough though to let her on his boat, but only when Hiccup was around.

Star pouted but nodded. The two of them turned away from the docks and continued on their walk to the academy. What they failed to have noticed was the second person on Johann's boat that had been looking up at them.

"So that's her." The unknown man whispered as he watched the two night furies retreat. "Time to sound the horn." He mumbled to himself as Johann approached him. The man cleared his throat. "Thank you again for bringing me here Johann. I would have gotten lost among all these islands."

Johann laughed and waved off the thanks. "What can I say? You paid well and I do love showing off my favorite island."

The man nodded and looked back up at the cliff. "Do you think the people of Berk would mind if I had a look around?"

Johann rubbed his mustache for a moment. "They're good folk. Don't do harm to their dragons and they'll be pleasant to ye."

The man smiled a bit and hopped off the boat. "I would never dream of harming a dragon." And with that he started walking up the ramps to the village. He'd heard quite a bit about the village of Berk from Johann and other travelers of the years and he really wanted to see just how many of the stories were true.

* * *

><p>AN: Pay attention now. Something is going to happen in the next chapter. I'll give a cookie to whomever guesses!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD. Anyone want to loan me a couple mil to buy the rights?

Chapter 6: Glass Lightening

Previously:

"So that's her." The unknown man whispered as he watched the two night furies retreat. "Time to sound the horn." He mumbled to himself as Johann approached him. The man cleared his throat. "Thank you again for bringing me here Johann. I would have gotten lost among all these islands."

Johann laughed and waved off the thanks. "What can I say? You paid well and I do love showing off my favorite island."

The man nodded and looked back up at the cliff. "Do you think the people of Berk would mind if I had a look around?"

Johann rubbed his mustache for a moment. "They're good folk. Don't do harm to their dragons and they'll be pleasant to ye."

The man smiled a bit and hopped off the boat. "I would never dream of harming a dragon." And with that he started walking up the ramps to the village. He'd heard quite a bit about the village of Berk from Johann and other travelers over the years and he really wanted to see just how many of the stories were true.

* * *

><p>It wasn't difficult for the stranger to find his way around Berk. To be honest the town was rather plain and simple in its layout. The buildings were all fairly new and set up in a way that if damage were to occur then it would be easy to repair or rebuild. Heck there were even buckets of water on pulley systems above each house to put out any dragon caused fires. He had a feeling that until a few years ago the buildings were being replaced quite frequently.<p>

He watched as various dragons wandered around the town along with their people. He took note of how the dragons interacted with the humans and he smirked a bit as he came to the realization that the human folk in Berk had no idea just how much potential their dragons had. It amazed him just how ignorant these people were.

His subtle stalking of the two night furies led him to an arena type place. Judging by the signs around and the discussions from the people that were near him the stranger was able to deduce that this was the dragon academy that had become quite famous among the islands. Stories of the dragon academy of Berk had traveled all over and it was part of the reason the stranger had decided to come to Berk when he had.

The man leaned against the railing that overlooked an arena below. He smirked a bit as he watched a group of older children were led into the arena from one end and a group of dragon hatchlings were led in from the other. A tall man with shaggy brown hair was speaking to the human children while the two night furies that the stranger had been following were focusing on the hatchlings.

"This is the day your class will officially start interacting with dragons," The stranger could hear the brown haired man's words from where he was standing and it just made the stranger roll his eyes. These people really had no idea what they were doing. He turned his attention over to the two night furies.

_"So these are the hatchlings chosen to meet with the humans?"_ Toothless asked sceptically as he looked over the dozen or so young dragons that were happily goofing around.

Star smiled at Toothless and nodded. "_There were a lot of choices this year." _Where it was Hiccup's decision which young human met with the dragons, it was Star's decision as to which hatchlings came out to see the humans for the first time of the academic year.

Years after Star had grown out of her hatchling youth there had been an accident involving several of the younger dragons. Since young dragons didn't listen to adults, human or dragon, it was the duty of all adults to watch over the young dragons. One day though several young dragons got free from their adult watchers and had gone wild playing around the village. At one point the young dragons had come across a slightly older Star and the first child of Hiccup and Astrid.

The rough housing hatchlings hadn't noticed how close they were getting to the young Haddock child when they started letting out bursts and puffs of flame. Star, fearing for the little human, let out a roar at the hatchlings. Silence had filled the area after Star's roar ended and the result of her outburst had shocked just about everyone.

Hatchlings never listened to anyone, this was a well known fact, and yet in that moment they had frozen in their play and had obeyed Star's command for them to stop and sit down. After that moment Hiccup and Star began testing this strange control of hers on the younger dragons. The hatchlings obeyed her the same way that adult dragons obeyed their Alpha Toothless. Ever since then Star had been put in charge of controlling the hatchlings while at the academy.

The stranger watched in fascination as Star crooned at the hatchlings to get their attention. He watched as Hiccup introduced his human students to the white night fury's young dragons. The white night fury kept the hatchlings in control just enough so they didn't do anything to hurt the young humans, but otherwise she let them do what they wanted.

"Amazing isn't she?" The stranger turned towards the feminine voice that had spoken to his right. The woman was on the thin side with auburn hair and green eyes. She reminded the stranger of the man below in the academy. "Before Star came along I'd never seen a dragon that could control hatchlings." She smiled at him and the stranger simply nodded.

"Are you here to see the Academy?" The woman asked the stranger. He kept his expression calm and composed as he nodded. "I am Valka." She held out her hand to the stranger. Once again the man kept his expression calm as he shook her hand.

The man sighed as he realized that Valka was holding onto his hand because she was waiting for him to give her his name. "Havardr Colby." A dragon's cry from below them alerted both Valka and Havardr. The handshake ended as the two adults looked below.

During their short introduction the young dragons had taken it upon themselves to pile up on top of Toothless.

_"Star get them OFF me!"_ Toothless struggled under the weight of the dozen hatchlings that had piled up on him. The black night fury looked over at Star who was lounging happily on the ground. She was completely stretched out and looked like she was dozing. _"Star! Please!"_ He was more concerned with the hatchlings hurting his false tail then actually hurting him.

Star snickered softly. _"You looked like you needed a hug."_ She cooed as she rolled onto her stomach and off of her side. _"And Hiccup said something about hatchlings being uncontrollable. I was proving a point."_ Star looked at the claws on one of her paws the way a human would look at their nails. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but she may have suggested to the hatchlings that they should go and 'play' with Toothless.

Toothless grumbled and started walking forward. The weight of a dozen young dragons clinging to his back was just barely manageable. Once he was by Star's side he shook himself hard. The hatchlings tumbled off of him and onto Star.

Havardr chuckled softly at the antics of the two night furies.

"Did you want to have a look around?" Valka asked after a few minutes of watching Toothless and Star chase each other around. "I'm one of the advance dragon trainers here so I can show you around."

Havardr took a good look at Valka then. Her posture was relaxed, but he could tell she was standing lightly on her feet in case she needed to move quickly. The way her eyes were focusing on him reminded Havardr of how dragons would stare down outsiders. He nodded as nonthreatening as he could. "I actually came to speak with the village Chief, but seeing as he is busy a tour would be a good way to spend time." He nodded down into the arena where Hiccup had picked up one of the young dragons to hold still for the children.

Just as they were leaving Havardr took one last look down into the arena, his eyes focusing on Star. A very soft growl left him before he turned and started following Valka.

A chill went down Star's back making her stop mid step. This momentary pause caused several of the young dragons that had been chasing after her to tackle her from behind. The young dragons got off of Star when she grumbled at them so she could stand back up. Star looked around again with concern. She could have sworn she'd heard...Star shook her head. She had to have been wrong about what she'd heard.

_"Star what's wrong?" _Toothless asked as he carried around one of the human children on his back. This was the part of the lesson where Hiccup got the human children more used to riding on a dragon's back.

Star looked over at Toothless and she tilted her head. _"Did you just...growl at me?"_ She asked with a deep frown. The sound she'd heard had been that of an Alpha growling.

Toothless shook his head at Star. _"No. If I growled it was at the hatchlings." _Toothless rolled his eyes. _"Not that they listen to me." _He turned his head to growl at a young dragon that was rushing past him, but the little nadder didn't even stop to look at him. Toothless huffed and turned to walk back to Hiccup for the next young human to ride his back.

By late afternoon almost all of the young dragons had been paired up with one of the human children. It would be up to each human child now to raise and care for their new dragon hatchling.

"You know Star ever since you started helping out at the Academy we've had a lot more permanent matches." Hiccup commented as he and the two night furies left the academy grounds to head for the docks.

Star pranced happily at the praise. When the academy had first started pairing dragon hatchlings with human children there had been quite a few cases where the young dragons didn't get along with the human children. Most dragons followed their typical breed characteristics so usually children were paired up based on their personalities. Before Star there were some cases where personalities did not mesh well at all.

_"What would the academy do without me?"_ Star crooned happily as she continued her happy prancing.

Toothless rolled his eyes and bumped her with his wing. _"It'd probably be a lot less girly." _He laughed and dodged forward away from the suddenly pouncing Star. _"Really! All the female children giggle and make weird sounds all the time when you play with the hatchlings." _He failed to dodge a second time and he and Star rolled together across the ground. Star jumped free first and hopped over to Hiccup to walk close to him.

_"You're just jealous the human children like me better!"_ She stuck her tongue out at Toothless as he grumbled and hurried up to walk beside her again.

Hiccup chuckled as he watched Star and Toothless. He knew them well enough that he could almost guess as to what they were saying to each other. "You know bud the more you grumble the more Star is going to pick at you." He laughed as Star reached over to poke at Toothless with her wingtip. "See?"

When they made it to the docks Toothless sat down with a thump and shook his head around while making blabby sounds. Star grinned and nuzzled at Toothless's neck before going over to Johann's boat to wait for him to invite her on with Hiccup.

"I've got something good for ya this time little Star." Johann said as he went to some of the crates at one end of his boat. "Found this little treasure far to the south after a horrible storm washed my ship ashore a white beach." Finding the bundle in the create he'd opened Johann carried the blanket wrapped object over to Star and Hiccup.

Hiccup leaned against the side of the vessel as Johann started unwrapping the bundle. "How far South did you go Johann?" Hiccup asked. He hadn't heard of any white beaches anywhere in the islands.

Johann paused in his careful unwrapping. "Pretty far. Took me almost a month to get back up to the farthest island." With that said Johann pulled back the last corner of the blanket.

Star's eyes went wide as she looked at the sculpture that Johann was showing her. The clear glass had three branches that swirled upwards and on each of the branches were spikes that jolted out. The entire sculpture reminded Star of lightening dancing across the sky. She got as close to the glass sculpture as she could without actually touching it.

"The artist I found said he was inspired when lightening hit the beach." Johann smiled proudly as he held it carefully out to Star. "I thought it would suit you quite well."

Hiccup couldn't help but admire the glass sculpture. He'd never seen glass worked in such a way as this! Glass was for dishware and windows, but this was something all together new. He had a feeling that it was going to be rather pricey as well. Hiccup looked at Star and saw just how attached she already was with the glass sculpture. He sighed and shook his head. If he didn't get it for Star there would be no living with the dragon. Of course then again she worked hard for the village so it was only fair that she get something for all her hard work.

"How much is it Johann?" Hiccup asked as he reached for the pouch at his waist. If he didn't have enough he'd have to go back to the house to get more. Astrid was going to kill him, but what else was new?

Johann shifted the sculpture in his hands for a moment while he thought about it. The sculpture really was a one of a kind piece; especially here in the viking islands. With a shrug he handed it over to Hiccup. "Consider it a birthday gift for little Star." Johann winked at Star who had started grinning and wiggling happily. "I get so much trade here at Berk I can afford to let this one go."

Hiccup looked at the glass sculpture in his hands. The glass was smooth and when he touched the little spikes shooting out from the branches he found they were rather pointy. "Let me pay you something Johann." He insisted. It didn't feel right to just get the glass sculpture for free.

Johann rubbed his chin. "Well I could do with some more dragon scales." He'd found a nice little port to the east that had a particular fondness for dragon scales. Berk was the only place he could get as many scales as he wanted.

Hiccup nodded; he felt a lot better about this trade now. He had a few of Star's scales that he was sure Johann would particularly like. "I'll send a crate of scales down for you then." He laughed as Star stuck her face as close to the glass sculpture as she could. "I better get this home so it doesn't break."

Star nodded encouragingly when Hiccup carefully got out of Johann's boat. _"Toothless! Did you see it! Did you see my new sculpture!"_ Star said as she went over to Toothless excitedly. _"It looks like lightening! And it's glass!"_ She did not have anything like it and she was so happy to have it.

Toothless nuzzled Star's neck and got up from where he'd parked himself. "_It looked interesting."_ Toothless said as the two of them started walking up the steps of the dock. "_Though I still don't understand why you collect human things."_

Star rolled her eyes at the older night fury. "_You don't see how wonderful human things are! They're always so different and they come from everywhere!"_ She liked looking at her collection and imagining what the world was like far away. She was a young dragon and she'd only ever lived in two places. Star doubted she'd actually ever leave Berk, but she did wonder what it was like to travel to distant places like trader Johann did.

Whether or not Toothless agreed with Star on how special human things were didn't matter; all that mattered was that Star was happy. _"Just make sure to keep Iona away from your new human thing." _Iona, Hiccup's and Astrid's 9 year old daughter, seemed to love playing with Star's collection.

As if summoned by her name spoken by the night fury the hyper and stubborn Haddock ran up to her father. Toothless caught the blond, green eyed girl just before she tried to jump onto her father.

"Father! Father there's a man waiting for you at the hall!" Iona said as she struggled against Toothless, who had knocked her down and proceeded to sit on her to keep her still. "What's that? Is that Star's?" Iona asked as she noticed the glass sculpture in her father's hands. "Trader Johann was here today wasn't he? Did you trade for that?" Iona had gotten her mother's loud and bold nature, but she'd also gotten her father's curiosity. The mix of the two certainly had an interesting effect in the girl.

Toothless rolled his eyes and got up off of Iona when she stopped squirming. Iona brushed off her leather skirt and then then went over to Star to try and climb up onto the night furies back.

Star wrinkled her nose and side stepped the little girl. _"Why did you let her up? She's trying to climb on my back again!"_ Even though Star was protective of the excitable girl she didn't like having any human on her back.

"_She thinks your her dragon." _Toothless explained for the hundredth time. He laughed as Star started trying to run away and dodge the little Haddock child. This had been a game between the girl and the white night fury since Iona had started walking. The two had literally grown up together so it made sense that the two would become rider and dragon, but for some reason Star refused to let anyone actually put a saddle on her.

Hiccup chuckled as Iona continued her quest to ride Star. With his daughter distracted by her attempts to chase down Star Hiccup made his way quickly back to their house so he could put Star's new glass sculpture up on the highest shelf in Star's and Toothless's addition. With that taken care of he quickly made his way to the hall where dinner was being prepared for later. On his way he passed Toothless, Star, and Iona again. Somehow Toothless had caught Iona again and was laying on her as Star rolled on her back on the ground in front of Iona. Hiccup chuckled and continued on his way.

"Hiccup there you are." Astrid said as the door to the great hall was opened and Hiccup came in. "This is Havardr Colby. He came in here from the South with Johann."

Hiccup got a good look at the stranger. He was a tall man with broad shoulders and a lean body. His hair was pitch black and his eyes were an interesting green color. He was wearing a simple clothe shirt with a fur lined cloak over it. He looked like an average man and yet Hiccup could sense something...powerful about him.

"Chief Hiccup, it's an honor." Havardr said as he held out his hand to shake Hiccup's. The Berk chief shook his hand and Havardr smiled a little. "I've heard so much about Berk, the Dragon Academy, and the dragon rider that started it all."

Hiccup felt a shock when his hand came in contact with Havardr's. It was the kind of shock that Hiccup got whenever he touched a wild dragon for the first time. His eyes narrowed for a moment as he scrutinized Havardr. There was definitely something strange about this man. "Well thank you for coming all this way."

Havardr cleared his throat when he let go of Hiccup's hand. "Lady Valka showed me around the academy, but I would appreciate a tour of Berk."

Hiccup tried to relax a little as he rubbed the side of his neck. As the chief it was kind of his responsibility to show new people around the village. "Sure, follow me." Hiccup turned and left the hall. He didn't have to turn to see if Havardr was following him. The hairs on the back of Hiccup's neck were practically standing up from the feeling of eyes watching him.

After a few minutes of Hiccup showing Havardr around and the two men making light conversation Hiccup started to relax a little. The man seemed genuinely interested in what the people of Berk were accomplishing with their dragons. Havardr would ask questions about how Berk cared for their dragons, how food was handled, and how tantrums were handled. None of his questions were intrusive or things that a thief or rogue would ask.

Eventually the two of them made it to a higher outcropping that had a nice view of most of the village. Hiccup spotted Star and Toothless wandering through the streets and towards their house. By the looks of it Iona had given up trying to get onto Star's back and had settled for Toothless.

"You have a fine little village here Chief Haddock." Havardr said as he put his hands on his hips. "It's nice to see place where dragons and people are at peace." His acid green eyes scanned the village below them until he finally spotted his query; the two night furies. "You have dragons here that I've only ever heard of."

Hiccup knew exactly which dragons Havardr was looking at. "We're very lucky here in Berk."

Silence settled between Hiccup and Havardr for several minutes. As the two men watched the village Star lifted up into the air and beckoned for Toothless to join her. Hiccup had already taught Iona how to fly with Toothless so it was rather easy for the black night fury to fly up after Star with the help of the young Haddock.

"How much?"

Hiccup looked over at Havardr in confusion. The man was watching Star and Toothless and they soared up higher and over the ocean. "How much what?"

Havardr sighed through his nose and crossed his arms over his chest. "How much for the night furies?"

The silence returned, but this time there was a thick tension in Hiccup that could almost be cut with a dagger.

* * *

><p>AN: Ok this chapter was hell to write. I knew what I wanted to write, but it's like my brain kept going "nopenopenopenope!" I think I even yelled at my laptop a couple times out of frustration.

ANYWAY! In the end the chapter ended up longer then I'd planned. Funny how that works right?


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own it. :: sobs :: I want to though!

Spoiler Alert: If you have not watched HTTYD2 yet then well...you have a problem. There are some spoilers in this chapter that are important to the movie. Sorry folks who have not seen the movie.

Chapter 7: Timing so perfect

Previously:

"You have a fine little village here Chief Haddock." Havardr said as he put his hands on his hips. "It's nice to see place where dragons and people are at peace." His acid green eyes scanned the village below them until he finally spotted his query; the two night furies. "You have dragons here that I've only ever heard of."

Hiccup knew exactly which dragons Havardr was looking at. "We're very lucky here in Berk."

Silence settled between Hiccup and Havardr for several minutes. As the two men watched the village Star lifted up into the air and beckoned for Toothless to join her. Hiccup had already taught Iona how to fly with Toothless so it was rather easy for the black night fury to fly up after Star with the help of the young Haddock.

"How much?"

Hiccup looked over at Havardr in confusion. The man was watching Star and Toothless and they soared up higher and over the ocean. "How much what?"

Havardr sighed through his nose and crossed his arms over his chest. "How much for the night furies?"

The silence returned, but this time there was a thick tension in Hiccup that could almost be cut with a dagger.

* * *

><p>"W-what?" Hiccup stepped away from Havardr in surprise.<p>

Havardr could already tell by Hiccup's reaction that Berk didn't barter for dragons. "How much for the night furies? I can pay whatever you want." He nodded his head towards the ocean where the two night furies were gliding around each other.

Hiccup frowned at Havardr. "Star and Toothless are not for sale." How could anyone even consider buying and selling dragons? Dragons were intelligent creatures that had just as much right to be treated as people as humans did. Selling a dragon would be like selling a human; it was slavery. "We don't buy or sell dragons here."

Havardr frowned back at Hiccup. His arms tightened over his chest. "Just the white one then."

Chief Hiccup shook his head and scowled at Havardr. "I think you should go back to Johann's ship." He motioned for Havardr to go. "I'll escort you." The stranger took the hint and started walking back down the way they'd come. Hiccup followed after Havardr to make sure he didn't do anything. The dragon tamer had seen several examples of how people treated dragons; from hunting down and killing them to capturing and controlling them. This was the first time he'd encountered someone who wanted to buy a dragon.

They were halfway back to the docks when Havardr spoke up. "I apologize if I insulted you," He started to say. "I did not fully understand the relationship the people of Berk share with their dragons."

Hiccup didn't know how to respond. Was Havardr like Drago had been all those years ago? Did he want the dragons for some horrible reason or was he honest in the misunderstanding? "Dragons are our friends and companions here." Hiccup said after sighing. "Selling one would be like selling a loved one."

Havardr nodded. "I understand. Again I apologize." He turned to look at Hiccup who had been walking behind him. "I should have never suggested buying the night furies." He kept his voice low enough that only Hiccup would hear him; there was no point in making any of the villagers upset with him.

"Your apology is accepted, but I think it's best if you stay with Johann until he leaves." There was something about Havardr's apology that didn't sit right with Hiccup. He seemed genuine in the apology, but it felt like Havardr was holding something back; it left Hiccup feeling unsettled. Years of experience told Hiccup that Havardr was keeping something from him.

Havardr nodded as he turned to continue on to the docks. "I shall do as you request Chief Haddock." With that Havardr left Hiccup behind to make it the rest of the way to the docks. He growled softly to himself once he was well out of hearing range of the Chief. Havardr would have the night furies, he had to have them. If not both then he had to have just the white one.

Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck worriedly. '_I'll keep Star away from the docks for now and have someone keeping an eye on both Star and Toothless until Johann leaves.'_ He thought to himself. It was the best he could do under the circumstances. Even though he had a bad feeling about Havardr he had no evidence that the man was going to do anything.

Johann only stayed for an extra day before he left with Havardr on board. To make sure Havardr did stay with Johann Hiccup flew out with Toothless for a few hours to watch Johann's ship. After he was satisfied Hiccup and Toothless returned to Berk. Other then his talk with Astrid about what had happened Hiccup decided to put Havardr in the back of his mind for the time being. He'd set extra patrols just to be on the safe side though.

Several months passed after Havardr left Berk with Johann and things returned to relative normalcy. Then the day came that Star hated.

_"Do you really have to go Toothless?" _Star asked one day as she and Toothless lounged in the dragon grass field. _"You go every year...and every year you leave me behind."_

Toothless cooed softly and scooted close to Star so he could curl around her comfortingly. "_It's the anniversary of Chief Stoick's death. It's important to Hiccup that we go to where everything happened."_ Toothless went not just because Hiccup needed to fly to the island, but because he wanted to apologize and mourn what had happened. He knew it hadn't been his fault for killing the great chief, but in his heart there would always be a part of him that would regret what had happened. Going to where the battle with Drago had happened was his form of atonement.

Star put her head on the ground and whimpered softly. She hated being left behind each year. She'd asked to go with them, but Toothless had always told her no. This was one thing that Toothless would not let Star do with him.

Toothless nuzzled Star comfortingly. "_It's just for a few days Star. We'll be back before you know it!"_

The white night fury nodded miserably. It wasn't just Toothless and Hiccup going though; Valka and Cloudjumper went as well as Astrid, Gobber, and their dragons. Iona went to stay with her cousin and uncle while the Haddock family was gone and that left Star all alone in the house. Usually she would leave the village to go to the lake for the few days that everyone was gone so that she wouldn't be staying in an empty house.

_"Come on Star. We go through this every year and I always come back."_ Toothless pointed out to the miserable white night fury. _"I promised you I would be here for you and I will."_

Star huffed softly. There was nothing she could do to change Toothless's mind. They really did go through this every year and Star doubted things would ever change.

"Toothless buddy! Ready to go?" Both night furies looked up at the approaching form of Hiccup in his black riding gear. His helmet was under one arm and he was waving with his free hand.

Star stood up and went over to Hiccup. She pressed her forehead against Hiccup's hand when he lowered it. "I'll miss you to Star. It's just for a couple days though." Hiccup smiled and rubbed the side of Star's head comfortingly. "I can count on you to take care of the hatchlings though right?"

Star made her eyes as big as possible as she looked up at Hiccup. Maybe Toothless had told her no, but there was still a chance that Hiccup would give in.

Hiccup laughed and pushed Star away. "Don't give me that look Star. We need you here in Berk while we're gone." He knelt down carefully so he could look Star in the eye. "You're the fastest dragon here Star and if anything happens you'll be able to get to us first."

Star hated how Hiccup was able to use logic to turn her down each and every time. Instead of just telling her no the way Toothless did Hiccup always pointed out why it was important for her to remain in the village. She turned her head away from Hiccup so she could sulk for a moment.

"Awe come on Star! You know I'm right." He chuckled as Star sulked in the way only night furies could. After a minute though she gave up and licked Hiccup's hand. "Hey now! That doesn't come out!" Hiccup laughed as he shook his gloved hand to try and get some of Star's saliva off of it.

Toothless nuzzled at Star's neck one last time to comfort her. _"We'll be back in a couple days."_ he told her as Valka and Cloudjumper arrived. Astrid was probably making sure Iona was with Snotlout and his sons while Gobber was probably having trouble with his Grump.

Star stepped back so that Hiccup could climb up into Toothless's saddle. _"You better."_ She grumbled as Toothless opened up his wings. With one last look he jumped into the air and Cloudjumper followed after him quickly.

The lone white night fury sat in the Dragon grass watching as two other dragons rose up into the air from the village to follow after Hiccup and Valka. Star watched as slowly the group of dragons flew off into the distance. Even after they were gone from her line of sight Star continued to watched the horizon where they'd vanished. She was half tempted to just jump up into the air and chase after them; what was stopping her? She didn't have or need a rider like the other dragons so she could just go where she wanted. And yet something held her back.

With a long sigh Star stood up and wandered into the forest. She'd spend the night in the glade and catch some fish in the lake. If she was going to be left alone she would at least go someplace she liked. She'd head back to the village in the morning to make sure everything was alright with the dragon babies. She wasn't actually needed for anything so she would have a lot of time on her paws.

* * *

><p>"My Lord we've almost reached the island." Many miles to the south of Berk several large and strangely ships were sailing north. Aboard the lead ship stood a single man with a telescope in hand. It'd taken almost a month for Johann to get Havardr back to his homeland, a month to get the ships and crew together, and a month to sail back. He would have that white night fury no matter what.<p>

Havardr collapsed the telescope in his hands and turned back to his crew. "I don't know why, but I just spotted a group of dragons flying away from Berk. From the looks of things the black night fury was with them while the white was not." He didn't know where they had gone or how long the group of dragons would be gone, but he wouldn't miss this opportunity. "Prepare the lifeboats. We'll go to the island under the cover of night and scout out the white night furies location."

The captain nodded and went to give commands to his crew. The message was passed to the other ships to drop anchor and prepare. They would find and capture the white night fury.

"It's time to sound the horn." Havardr said softly as he looked at the distant island of Berk. He tapped the side of his telescope for a moment. "Send a lone boat to the far shore. I want someone scouting ahead so that we know where to go tonight."

* * *

><p>Star sighed as she finished her third fish from the lake. It just wasn't the same eating alone and Star hated it. She could go back to the village and spend the night with the dragon babies, but honestly she didn't want to deal with them at the moment. Even though they obeyed her the young dragons were still hyper and had a tendency to get into things when she wasn't paying attention.<p>

_"I still don't get why I couldn't go with them."_ Star grumbled as she poked at her fourth and final fish. When she'd been young Toothless had told her she couldn't go because she wouldn't be able to fly the distance. As she'd gotten older Toothless had stopped giving her reasons and had just told her a flat no. One year she'd pestered him so much that he had pulled his Alpha status on her. That had not been a fun experience.

Seeing as how the fish was already dead and not eating it would be a waste Star swallowed the slippery scaled beast whole. She contemplated for a moment going into the lake and swimming around for a little while, but she changed her mind and decided to do some sunbathing while the sun was still high in the sky.

Star pulled up her fire and blasted the ground before her with her blue fire. Once the ground was nice and charred she stretched out and relaxed. With heat coming from beneath her and above her Star was able to relax and fall into a light nap.

High above her on the outcropping of rock crouched a single man dressed in muted greens and browns. He hid behind some brush as he watched the white night fury as she ate and then slept. The second he'd arrived on the far shore he'd started tracking. The white night fury wasn't particularly difficult to find since she'd not been trying to hide her trail. The second he'd found the white night fury he'd backtracked and left subtle markers for the others when they arrived that night. Now all he had to do was keep an eye on the white night fury to make sure she didn't go back to the village.

The stranger sat down and crossed his legs as he watched Star. His dark green eyes didn't even blink as he kept them riveted on the sleeping night fury. He knew and understood just how important this night fury was to the mission and he would do everything in his power to make sure that they captured her. After awhile of sitting and watching the man closed his eyes so he could focus on his other senses. He was an expert tracker so if she were to stir he would know.

After a couple hours of sleeping Star finally did start to stir. She yawned and stretched out. The nap had done her a world of good and her mood had improved dramatically. She yawned again and pranced over to the lake. She jumped in for a moment to make sure any dirt she'd gotten on herself while sleeping was washed off. Having white scales meant she had an easier time looking dirty and Star didn't like it.

Once she was sure she'd cleaned off the dirt she climbed out of the water and launched herself up into the air to dry off. She gracefully twisted in the air so she could go to the cliffs to watch the sunset. She loved watching the sky as the sun set and the moon rose. Watching the stars as they slowly started to shimmer in the sky was always enchanting for her.

Subtly the human tracker followed after her. He was careful to keep line of sight with Star, but to stay behind her just far enough that she wouldn't be able to catch his scent or see him. She didn't fly far which surprised him. He could have sworn she would have flown back to the village, but instead she simply landed near the cliffs looking to the east.

Star took a deep breath and savored the salty taste in the air. The wind was coming in from the ocean so all she could smell was the ocean itself. She looked up at the sky and watched as the blues changed to reds and oranges as the sun slowly made its way down. She let out a content sigh as the first stars of the night started to shine in the slowly darkening sky.

The white night fury was more then content to keep her eyes tilted up so she could watch the night sky. Her two ear like appendages swiveled slightly as the sound of the oceans waves were disturbed. She glanced down to see several small boats not to far away on one of the beaches that lined the island. Star tilted her head and her eyes widened a bit to suck in more light so she could see better. They looked like perfectly average boats, the kinds that the fishermen would use when fishing close to the island. Star shrugged and turned back to watch the stars. The fishermen were probably just doing some late night work; this wasn't the first time.

Her opinion changed though when she heard a twig snap several feet behind her. It was all the warning she got when a bola suddenly came out of the forest at her. Star ducked and dodged to the right to avoid a second. She roared at whoever was in the forest and quickly dove off of the cliff to get away from the surprise attack.

"_What is going on?"_ Star wondered at loud as she sped away from the attackers. The direction they'd attacked her prevented her from going straight to Berk so she would have to take the long way to get back. Her training with Toothless told her to avoid going over the ocean. The ocean had very few places for her to duck and hide so she made a beeline for the forest. Her white scales made her an easy target at night.

Just as she was trying to gain altitude to avoid any more airborne attacks from the forest a bola came flying and clipped her wing. With a screech of pain Star dropped through the trees and barely had time to close her wings and tail fins to avoid any damage from the trees branches. She landed heavily and rolled so she could at least continue her momentum.

Another bola came out at her from the opposite direction as the last and Star realized what was going on. Whoever was attacking her was herding her. Star opened her mouth to let out a bellow of fury. Before she got the chance something heavy came down from above her and hit her head. It wasn't enough to knock her out, but it was enough to disorient her.

Star shook her head and stumbled forward and away from what had hit her. _"Leave me alone!" _She yelled into the night as she shakily tried running. With her vision unfocused she failed to see the net trap that she ran head long into.

The chain net sprang up the second Star had stepped into it, successfully entangling her within.

Star screeched and tried to bite and claw against the chains, but it was fruitless. "I'm sorry for the discomfort you are experiencing little one." Star's eyes narrowed and she turned as best she could to growl at the man that walked into her sight. "It's been a very long time Morning Star."

Star glared and growled at the man as he walked towards her. She built up the fire in her gut and was about to blast him when she heard the strangest sound. She stopped and closed her mouth as the command of an Alpha overwhelmed her. She looked around in confusion expecting to see Toothless, but all she saw were the men coming out of their hiding places to surround her.

"We've been searching for you for a long time Morning Star. We lost you twice now, but it won't happen a third time." The man reached into the bag he was carrying and pulled out a strangely shaped horn. The horn was long, black, and curved upwards as Havardr put it to his lips. When blown into the horn released a very low tone that made Star's ears shiver and twitch.

The sound seemed to get louder in Star's head the longer the man blew into it and after a minute Star was clutching her head hard. Recognition struck her as she was forced to listen to the strange tone.

Star's eyes went wide and ferocious as her mind worked quickly. "_It was YOU!"_ She screamed weakly at the man as she held her head in her paws. "_You're the one who attacked us! You're the reason my mother and sister are gone!" _

The man took another breath and continued blowing into the horn. It took another two long breaths before Star finally passed out from the vibrations the horn created. The horn had been specifically designed to knock out a night fury by overwhelming their echo location.

Havardr looked at Star as she slumped into unconsciousness and he put the horn away. His expression, which had been calm and determined up to this point, saddened. "Get her out of there and tie her up. We need to get going before anyone starts looking for her." He ran a hand through his black hair with a sigh. If there had been another way to get his hands on the white night fury he would have done so, but he doubted the people of Berk would have been willing to give her up.

"Let's get moving." Havardr commanded as the chain net was lowered and metal clamps were attached to Star's back and sides to keep her wings closed. A similar clamp was locked onto her tail to keep her tail fins from opening up. One last clamp was locked around her snout while her legs were tied together with chains. With that done the unconscious female night fury was lifted onto a makeshift gurney.

Getting her down to the beach where the boats were was a hassle, but the kidnappers were able to get her down. With a silent heave the boats were launched from the shore and were sent out to sea to meet up with the main fleet.

It wasn't until the next night that the village of Berk began to wonder where Star was. Having gotten used to Star leaving the village while Toothless was gone they didn't question her disappearance to much. Iona was the one who discovered the broken tree branches and the signs of the attack two days later. A search party was sent out, but by then the fleet of ships that had come to steal Star away was already long gone. The fastest dragon Berk had was sent out to try and get to Hiccup to relay the news.

The messenger and his dragon met up with Toothless and the other dragons as they were making their way back to Berk.

"What's going on?" Hiccup asked as the messenger and his dragon flew in close to him and Toothless.

"It's Star, Chief Hiccup," The messenger said quickly. "She's missing."

That simple statement was enough to send Toothless instantly hurtling through the sky. Hiccup pressed himself close to Toothless's back as the night fury pushed himself to his fastest speeds to get to Berk as quickly as possible. The gravity of the situation was revealed to Toothless and Hiccup when they finally touched down in the village.

Star had been kidnapped.

* * *

><p>AN:

In all honesty I'd had this chapter planned out in my head for months. So enjoy this fast update everyone! I'll start on the next chapter and I think you're all going to be rather surprised as to what happens next.

BTW please tell me what you guys think?


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD, but I wish I did. Anyone want to help me start a kickstarter to buy the rights?

Chapter 8: Dragon-napped!

Previously:

It wasn't until the next night that the village of Berk began to wonder where Star was. Having gotten used to Star leaving the village while Toothless was gone they didn't question her disappearance to much. Iona was the one who discovered the broken tree branches and the signs of the attack two days later. A search party was sent out, but by then the fleet of ships that had come to steal Star away was already long gone. The fastest dragon Berk had was sent out to try and get to Hiccup to relay the news.

The messenger and his dragon met up with Toothless and the other dragons as they were making their way back to Berk.

"What's going on?" Hiccup asked as the messenger and his dragon flew in close to him and Toothless.

"It's Star, Chief Hiccup," The messenger said quickly. "She's missing."

That simple statement was enough to send Toothless instantly hurtling through the sky. Hiccup pressed himself close to Toothless's back as the night fury pushed himself to his fastest speeds to get to Berk as quickly as possible. The gravity of the situation was revealed to Toothless and Hiccup when they finally touched down in the village.

Star had been kidnapped.

* * *

><p>Toothless snarled in anger as he was told what the villagers had found. His eyes became slits and it was all Hiccup could do to keep Toothless from losing control. "Show us what you found." Hiccup commanded the search team. Since he hadn't even dismounted Toothless was back in the air within seconds followed by the dragons and their riders that had found the scene of the attack.<p>

The search team led Toothless and Hiccup north. They knew the island better then the rest of the village so they knew exactly how close they were to the glade when the search team finally motioned for them to land.

The largest sign that something had happened were the broken tree branches that littered the area. There were also gashes in the trees where the bolas had flown past. Footprints and drag marks covered the ground and led the way over to a path that led down to a beach not to far away.

Toothless angrily scented every mark he found and snarled when he found the spot where Star had been captured. The mix of her sweet scent with the bitter tang of metal filled his nose and he growled.

"Eret..." Hiccup turned to the previous dragon trapper. "What did you and Skullcrusher find?" Hiccup knew that if anyone could find Star it was the bloodhound of dragons Skullcrusher.

The tall dark haired Eret scowled angrily. "We tracked Star's scent a few hours to the south, but then Skullcrusher lost the scent."

Hiccup frowned at Eret. Skullcrusher was a Rumblehorn and could track anything for days. How had the tracker class dragon lost Star's scent?

"I don't know how Hiccup. I think there was something else in the air." Eret said before Hiccup could even ask. "Skullcrusher had her scent and then he got disoriented."

Berk's chief cursed and fingered the hilt of his sword for a moment. Whoever these people that had kidnapped Star knew what they were doing. There was very little doubt in his mind who had done it, but he had no way of knowing how to find Havardr. He did know that Johann knew Havardr; which was a better lead then nothing at all.

_"Skullcrusher."_ Toothless looked at the larger dragon with his narrowed gaze. "_What happened?"_ he demanded with an angry hiss.

The larger rumblehorn looked at the night fury warily. He, like every other dragon, knew how possessive a night fury was. _"Something was masking her scent. It filled my nose and blocked out everything else."_ He'd never smelt anything like it before. It reminded him of pepper, but it was stronger and more potent.

Toothless locked around. _"What about these other scents?"_ He demanded as he circled the entire site. _"Are there any you can track?"_

Skullcrusher took a deep breath and began sorting through the scents that he took in. It was easy to weed out the ones that belonged to the Berkians and their dragons. Once he had he focused on the ones of the strangers. "_One of the scents remains on the island."_ He told Toothless after a few seconds.

Toothless grew tense and his rage built up to where his blue fire glowed through his black scales. "_Take me to him."_

_"_Toothless?" Hiccup asked as the night fury turned and bolted into the forest with Skullcrusher. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on. "Skullcrusher has a scent! Follow them!" He yelled at the search party.

Several of the dragons whose riders were still in their saddles jumped into the air to follow the pursuers from the air. Astrid pulled Hiccup up onto Stormfly so Hiccup wouldn't get left behind.

An angry screech from Toothless told everyone that he and Skullcrusher had caught someone. By the time Stormfly was able to land Toothless had tackled the stranger and was pinning him down. His eyes were slits and his teeth were less then an inch from the man's neck. Despite that the man seemed irrationally calm.

"_Where did you take her!?" _The furious night fury demanded as his claws dug into the ground under the man. "_TELL ME!" _Toothless snapped his teeth at the stranger as his rage built up. Why wasn't this human afraid of him?

Toothless quickly got down from Stormfly and hurried over to Toothless. "Whoa there buddy! Don't kill him!" Toothless snarled up at Hiccup, but otherwise didn't move. "We still need him to answer our questions." Hiccup's voice turned cold as he stared down at the calm man that was being pinned by Toothless. "Now then," Hiccup knelt down next to the man. "You will answer our questions yes?"

The man stared at Hiccup silently. "In time." He said cryptically.

Hiccup frowned at the man and had to put a hand on Toothless to keep the night fury from beheading him. "Get him to one of the jail cells." Hiccup commanded one of the warriors that had arrived. "I want a guard on him at all times."

Getting Toothless to let the man up was difficult and even when the man was in chains Toothless continued to snarl at him. "Come on buddy, we have one other lead to check out." He nodded to Eret as the man mounted up on Skullcrusher. "Let's get back to the village. I have an idea."

* * *

><p>The sound of lapping waves was the first thing that Star heard as she came to. She groaned in pain as her head pounded from a migraine. Star tried to reach up to rub her head, but chains tying her legs together kept her from moving them. Panic started to set in as she realized her wings and her tail were bound to keep her from even attempting flight. Star wanted to scream and yell, but the clamp over her snout kept her mouth shut.<p>

Star's breathing was fast and heavy as she tried to stand up. With her legs tied together she had zero balance so she toppled over into a wall of iron bars. Star's ear flaps went up and she turned her head to get a better look at her cage. Whoever her captors were they'd been smart. The four walls of her cage were made up of thick metal bars spaced close together so Star couldn't even get a paw through. The floor and roof of her cage were made up of thick solid metal. The only bright side of her cage was that there was enough room for her to stand up and walk a few steps...that is if she could even stand up.

Star struggled against her chains and she slapped her tail against one side of her cage in anger. The solid impact brought tears to her eyes and she didn't do it again.

"You're finally awake." Star looked over towards a set of stairs sharply. "You've been out for at least two days." The tall black haired man walked over to a stool that was set up a few feet away from Star's cage.

Star glared at the man. She recognized him as the man with the horn that had knocked her out. "_Bastard." _She cursed at him knowing he wouldn't understand what she was saying.

Havardr watched Star silently for a few minutes after her small outburst. "We have a long trip ahead of us." He informed her calmly. "So I might as well explain a few things to you."

Star narrowed her eyes at him and tried to snarl through the clamp that was keeping her mouth shut. She brought her snout as close to her paws as she could and tried to push it off of her snout.

Havardr watched in curiosity as the white night fury carefully rubbed at the muzzle clamp with her bound paws. He was intrigued to find that she was actually examining it as she tried to remove it. "If you promise not to snap at me I'll take the muzzle clamp off." Havardr said as he reached into a pocket and pulled the keys free to wave at her.

Star growled at Havardr, but in the end she stopped moving long enough for him to reach through the bars to unlock the muzzle clamp. As soon as it was off she snarled at the man, but didn't snap at him.

"There that wasn't so hard was it?" Havardr asked as he reclaimed his seat on the stool. "Now then. Do you want an explanation or food first?" He asked just as Star's stomach grumbled. "Food it is. I'll return shortly with some fish."

_"Traitorous stomach."_ Star grumbled as she stretched her poor jaw muscles. She looked at the metal chains that were wrapped firmly around her paws and then extended her teeth. With an irritated sigh she started gnawing at the chains in the hope that they might be poorly made. After a few minutes of trying to chew the chains Star stopped to see if anything had changed. She glared at the chains when they seemed undamaged by her sharp teeth.

Up on deck Havardr filled a hand basket with fish that had been recently caught. "How are we doing?" He asked the captain as the man walked past.

"We're making good time thanks to the sea dragons." The captain said as he pointed to a set of chains that were attached to the ship and leading into the water. "They've agreed to drag the ships for a few days, but after that we'll be on our own again."

Havardr nodded. "See if we can bargain for a little longer. We need to get as much distance between us and Berk as possible."

With that taken care of Havardr went back below deck. "Now then little one, here's your lunch." He carefully slid the basket of fish through the bars of Star's cage so she could eat.

Star hesitantly sniffed at the fish she'd been given.

"It's not poisoned." Havardr said with a sigh. "Why would we poison you after we worked so hard to capture you?" He pointed out.

The white night fury sneered at Havardr, but in the end she did pick up a fish and swallow it down. She suppressed a shiver of pleasure as she realized that the fish she was eating happened to be Icelandic cod.

"Only the best for such an important guest." Havardr said as he watched Star eat with a little more gusto.

After a few fish Star paused in her eating to look at Havardr. _"Well?"_ She asked as she tried to gesture with her paws for Havardr to explain himself.

Havardr looked at Star's chained paws and then let out a sigh. "You probably won't believe half of what I have to say to you Morning Star, but everything I will tell you is the truth."

Star rolled her eyes at the man. Whatever he had to say meant very little to her. All she wanted was to be returned home so she could be with Toothless again. "_Toothless will find me."_ She mumbled between bites. "_And when he does you're toast."_

Havardr shook his head as he listened to Star's grumbles and threatening noises. "I'm sure whatever you are planning to do to me will be most gruesome." He said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Now then, do you want an explanation or not?"

Silence stretched between Star and Havardr for a moment before he nodded. "Alright then." Havardr got up and went over to a crate not far from Star's cage. "Have you ever wondered why you were raised by a human woman and her daughter?" Havardr asked as he opened up the crate to pull out a smaller box.

Star snorted and rolled her eyes. To be honest she'd never questioned that little fact. Ever since she could remember Brighid and her mother had been the only family she'd ever had.

"15 years ago in my homeland a beautiful white egg was laid by the most graceful and magnificent white night fury ever seen by my people." Havardr said slowly as he carefully lifted the remains of a broken dragon egg out of the small box. The bottom half of the egg was still intact while it was missing it's top half. The surface of the egg was a soft white color with a strange blueish tint. "That mother night fury was almost a thousand years old when she laid that egg and it would be her last before she died." There was a sadness in his voice as he told Star this story.

"You and the other night fury in Berk are not the only night furies in this world Star," Havardr sat back down on his stool. He cradled the broken egg in his hands.. "There's an entire nest full of night furies. They live alongside the humans of my homeland in peace."

"_Lies!"_ Star hissed at Havardr. "_Toothless told me there were no others!"_

Havardr waited a moment for Star to stop hissing at him before he continued. "On the day that the egg hatched, the baby dragon within was kidnapped by one of the hatchery caretakers." He watched Star intently. "Myself and several others were tasked to track that woman down and rescue the baby night fury."

Star had a feeling she was not going to like where this story was going.

"We tracked down the caretaker, but she'd already sold the baby night fury." Havardr cursed softly to himself. "The woman was executed for her treason and we continued our search."

Star growled at Havardr. Had that woman they'd executed been her mother_?_

"We tracked down the buyer...but we were too late." Very carefully Havardr set the egg down as close to Star as the cage would allow. He waited until she hesitantly sniffed at the egg. "The ship the buyer had been on...sank in a storm. We feared the worse for the night fury baby."

Star sniffed at the egg. The scent was very faint, but there was something familiar about it.

"For years we thought the baby was dead and then one day a rumor came to us about a lone woman and her daughter. They had a strange white dragon with them."

Star started growling at lone woman and her daughter had to have been her mother and sister. "_What did you do to my mother?!_" Star demanded angrily.

"I went with a team far to the north to confront the woman. When we found her though she'd already sent her daughter away with the white night fury." Havardr stood up and left to head to the deck then leaving Star alone for several long painful minutes. When he finally returned there was a cloaked person with him. Star could see the hem of a dress under the cloak.

"That woman we found told us of how she'd found a white dragon washed up on shore and how it was near death. She told us of how she raised that little dragon as her own and protected it." Havardr motioned for the woman to step forward.

Star watched with apprehension as the woman slowly walked up to the cage. Her eyes narrowed as the woman slowly reached up to the hood of her cloak. Her eyes went wide as the hood fell back to reveal an elderly woman.

"Look how you've grown!" The woman said weakly as she knelt down on the ground. "My beautiful Morning Star."

"_Mother?!" _Star pressed up against the cage to try and get closer to her mother to sniff at her. It'd been ten years, but Star would never forget her mother's scent.

Elizabeth smiled and reached into the cage to gently stroke Star's head. "When they found us...I thought they were Drago's dragon trappers." She said weakly as she rubbed at Star's ears. "By the time I learned the truth...you and Brighid were long gone. No one could find you!" Tears slipped out of her eyes and down her cheeks. "Oh my beautiful Star; I thought I had lost you!"

Elizabeth stood and looked at Havardr. "Is the cage really necessary now that she knows?" She begged weakly. She'd been old before Star and Brighid had left, but now she was feeling her age.

Havardr nodded sadly. "There's a lot more she needs to know and I can't be sure she'll stay here...even with you here."

"_Mother. Mother I'm sorry!" _Star babbled as she looked up at Elizabeth. "_Brighid died! She's gone. We thought y__ou had been killed!" _She said quickly. "_We should have gone back for you! I'm so sorry!"_

Elizabeth knelt back down to try and comfort the obviously distressed Star. "Sh-h, it's alright Star. Everything is alright now."

"After we heard Elizabeth's story we took her back to my homeland. She was rewarded and given a home there for her years of caring for you." Havardr offered the stool to the old woman so she could sit more comfortably. "Since you'd survived once we weren't going to risk assuming your death again."

"They sent people everywhere looking for you Star!" Elizabeth said quickly. "I didn't understand why they would be looking for you at first Star, but everything was explained to me later on."

Star looked from her mother to Havardr in confusion. She looked down at the egg shell and very slowly she put the pieces together. "_So I'm the stolen night fury..." _Toothless had told her he'd never seen a white night fury before. "_But why am I so important that you would kidnap me? Steal me away from my home?" _She looked up at Havardr not expecting him to answer since humans couldn't understand dragon speech.

Havardr took a deep breath and let it out slowly_. "_To answer your question Morning Star I have to tell you the story of my homeland." His words were slow and measured as his acid green eyes met Star's yellow ones. "And you need to know that the history of night furies is a very important part of it."

Star's eyes narrowed as she stared at Havardr. Suddenly he was talking to her as if he understood what she was saying.

Elizabeth gently rubbed the side of Star's head. "Havardr and his people can talk to dragons Star." She said softly. "And it's all because of your ancestor; The first white night fury."

* * *

><p>AN

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH I forgot how much fun cliff hangars were to write. There were so many places I wanted to stop this chapter, but I wanted to get past 3,000 words first.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Do not own it.

Chapter 9: Trust Issues

Previously:

"_Mother. Mother I'm sorry!" _Star babbled as she looked up at Elizabeth. "_Brighid died! She's gone. We thought you had been killed!" _She said quickly. "_We should have gone back for you! I'm so sorry!"_

Elizabeth knelt back down to try and comfort the obviously distressed Star. "Sh-h, it's alright Star. Everything is alright now."

"After we heard Elizabeth's story we took her back to my homeland. She was rewarded and given a home there for her years of caring for you." Havardr offered the stool to the old woman so she could sit more comfortably. "Since you'd survived once we weren't going to risk assuming your death again."

"They sent people everywhere looking for you Star!" Elizabeth said quickly. "I didn't understand why they would be looking for you at first Star, but everything was explained to me later on."

Star looked from her mother to Havardr in confusion. She looked down at the egg shell and very slowly she put the pieces together. "_So I'm the stolen night fury..." _Toothless had told her he'd never seen a white night fury before. "_But why am I so important that you would kidnap me? Steal me away from my home?" _She looked up at Havardr not expecting him to answer since humans couldn't understand dragon speech.

Havardr took a deep breath and let it out slowly_. "_To answer your question Morning Star I have to tell you the story of my homeland." His words were slow and measured as his acid green eyes met Star's yellow ones. "And you need to know that the history of night furies is a very important part of it."

Star's eyes narrowed as she stared at Havardr. Suddenly he was talking to her as if he understood what she was saying.

Elizabeth gently rubbed the side of Star's head. "Havardr and his people can talk to dragons Star." She said softly. "And it's all because of your ancestor; The first white night fury."

* * *

><p>"So what's this plan of yours Hiccup?" Eret asked as they landed outside of Hiccup's home. He leaned against Skullcrusher as he watched Hiccup dart into the add on of his house and then returned. He was carrying the glass sculpture in his hands.<p>

"We'll use this." Hiccup explained as he held up the glass object. "We got it from Trader Johann and we can use it to track him down." He handed it to Eret to show to Skullcrusher. "He said he got it from the someplace South." If Hiccup's suspicions turned out true then Johann had gotten that glass sculpture in the same area that Havardr Colby had come from.

Toothless paced restlessly as he waited for Hiccup to finish discussing the plan with Eret. "_I'll rip their arms off and burn the stubs. Then I'll rip out their guts and force them to stay alive for as long as possible for this." _He was mumbling as he dug grooves into the dirt with his claws. "_If they hurt MY Star I'll make them beg for death before I'm done." _

"_I'll find them Alpha. I won't let you down again." _Skullcrusher said as he watched Toothless tear up the ground with his pacing. He felt terrible for having lost Star's scent, but he wouldn't do it again. He was sure if he flew a little higher this time, and with a new trail to follow, he'd be able to track down Star's kidnappers.

"You ready?" Eret said as he held the glass sculpture out to Skullcrusher.

Hiccup quickly mounted Toothless as Skullcrusher breathed in the scents coming off of the glass sculpture. After a moment of that Skullcrusher leaped into the air. "Let's get her back Buddy." Hiccup said as he adjusted his prosthetic so that Toothless could jump into the air.

It took a moment for Skullcrusher to sift through the various scents that had been clinging to the glass sculpture. He was able to recognize Star's easily, but he knew if he followed her trail he would lose it. Instead Skullcrusher focused on two older scents. One was so faint that it would take days if not weeks to follow. The other led to a few islands over to the east.

"He's got a scent!" Eret yelled as Skullcrusher took off to the east.

Astrid caught up with Stormfly shortly after Hiccup and Eret took off. "Orders Chief?" She asked as she and Stormfly got as close to Toothless as possible.

Hiccup looked up at his wife for a moment. "Call back any squads. Ground all dragons not on guard duty. Have Gobber and Snotlout start the interrogation with the prisoner." Hiccup said quickly as they flew farther away from Berk. "And load up a ship with supplies to last a couple months." He looked forward through his helmet. "I have a feeling we're going to be leaving when we get back and I don't want to take the chance of running out of supplies."

Astrid hesitated and nodded. "I'll make sure everything gets done." With that she gave Stormfly her orders to get back to Berk.

"A ship?" Eret asked uneasily.

Hiccup nodded. "Dragons can fly for days, but I don't want to fly a dragon to death." He gently rubbed the side of Toothless's head as he grumbled. "Finding Star is important, but we're not going to risk any lives." Again he had to calm Toothless down with a gentle rub. "We'll find her, but we're going to do this the right way."

"_I'd rather find her the FAST way." _Toothless said through his grumbles. He hated to think about what Star's captors were doing to her.

"_We'll find her Alpha!" _Skullcrusher said quickly. He did not like the way Toothless was glowing with that blue light. The only time he'd ever seen that happen was when Drago had attacked with his Bewilderbeast.

Hiccup didn't much like the blue glow either. "Remember Toothless, Johann is our friend." He was pretty sure, based on the direction, Skullcrusher had locked onto Johann's location.

_"I'll be the judge of that."_ Toothless grumbled angrily, but his blue fire did die down so that he wasn't glowing through his scales anymore.

Hiccup sighed in relief and silence surrounded the small group as the two dragons flew ever eastward.

* * *

><p>Star was silent for a moment as what she had just been told sank in. "<em>Talk to...First white...what?" <em>She wasn't sure what to believe, but she trusted her mother. If her mother was saying these things were true then...but it wasn't possible for humans to understand dragons! She shook her head in confusion.

"_Why didn't you just tell us these things back on Berk?"_ Star demanded angrily. "_Why didn't you tell me my mother was alive?!"_ If Havardr had just told them that her mother was still alive, that she'd been kidnapped in the first place, then things would have been very different. "_You didn't have to kidnap me!" _

Havardr's eyes narrowed and he frowned at Star. "There was no way to know for sure what would happen if I'd told you the truth back on Berk. Outsiders can't be trusted to know the truth." He growled softly at her. "Outsiders become greedy, jealous, or fearful when they learn what the people of our homeland can do."

Star sneered at Havardr. "_So you had to kidnap me? I was happy there! I had friends and...and a family again." _

Elizabeth looked from Star to Havardr and back for a moment. She couldn't understand what Star was saying, but she could guess based on Havardr's reactions and responses. "Things are complicated Star; very complicated." Her mother said softly as she tried to calm Star down.

The night fury snorted and pulled away from her mother for a moment. Even though she was immensely happy to see her mother again Star couldn't help but feel betrayed for being taken away from her home. Toothless meant the world to her and she couldn't imagine living without him.

Havardr knelt down to look at Star on an even level. "This decision wasn't made lightly. I spent months weighing the possible choices." He said trying to make Star understand. "For all we know if we'd told the people of Berk the truth they would have imprisoned you." He paused when Star snorted. "Outsiders just can't be trusted."

"_How would you know?"_ Star demanded angrily. "_I've lived with the people of Berk for ten years! They would never hurt me!" _

Rage filled Havardr's eyes as he stood back up. "How do I know?" He cursed under his breath and clenched his fights. "Because every time we tell an outsider about us, about our homeland, about the white night furies, the same thing happens." His shoulders shook as he tried to keep from exploding at the naive young night fury. "Our homeland has been attacked so many times over the generations for what we can do and what we have. After what happened the last time...it was decided we would never reveal the truth to the outside world again."

_"And what exactly happened?" _Star said sarcastically. "_What was so horrible that you became so distrusting?" _

Havardr's eyes narrowed and he was silent for a moment as he glared don at Star. "The last time we told someone about us...you were kidnapped and sold to dragon trappers."

Star fell silent for several long minutes. She could understand why people would be upset ad having her kidnapped, but what was so damned important about her that caused her to be kidnapped int he first place? "_Who would do that?" _Star said softly. "_Who would even kidnap a baby dragon?"_

"Drago Bludvist would." Havardr spit out the name like it was poison.

The name sent shivers down Star's back. Over the years in Berk she'd heard the story of Drago Bludvist and what he'd done to Berk and it's dragons.

"Years ago Drago Bludvist somehow made it to our island as a young man. At the time we didn't know about his...his madness." Havardr said rapidly before Star could interrupt. "He seemed genuinely interested in our relationship with the dragons of our island. He lived among us for years. We taught him about dragons thinking he would become an ally." Havardr looked at his hands for a moment so he wouldn't focus his rage at Star. "When we finally told him our last secret...about how we'd learned how to talk to dragons...his true nature finally showed itself." Havardr wished he could punch something. "When we refused to teach him how to talk to dragons he went mad. He forced several dragons into submission and went after the white night fury mother."

Havardr paused in his telling of the truth so he could calm himself. His voice had been getting progressively louder. "We prevented him from getting to her and he fled. Your egg hadn't been laid yet so we didn't think about how he'd try again." Havardr shook his head angrily. "Word of Drago's cruelty and madness came to us and we did what we could to hide our island so he couldn't come back."

"_So...It's your fault..." _Everything that Drago had done had been because of these people. The army that Drago had captured, the bewilderbeast he had tortured, even her sisters death to an extent had been because these people had shared their secrets with the madman.

Havardr nodded. "That's why we swore not to tell outsiders about our secrets again."

Star looked around as her thoughts worked rapidly. "_So why did you tell my mother if you swore never to tell anyone?" _Star said coldly.

Havardr rubbed his nose and groaned softly. "We only told her because we knew we would need her help to get you back if you were still alive."

Elizabeth, figuring out that they were talking about her, spoke up. "I had to agree to live on the island with guards before they would tell me anything Star." She said soothingly. "I swore a blood oath that I would never leave the island or tell anyone." She rubbed Star's neck lovingly. "I begged Havardr to let me come to get you."

"_I still don't understand why I'm so important."_ Star said softly after a few minutes. "_Or why Drago would go to such lengths to kidnap me."_

Havardr sighed softly and rubbed his forehead. Where should he even begin with this story? There was so much he needed to tell Star, but it was obvious she wouldn't trust him. It had been a brilliant idea on his part to get Elizabeth to come with the fleet to capture Star.

"Let's make you a little more comfortable first." Havardr said as he came up with a plan. This wouldn't earn her trust, but it was a step in the right direction. He pulled out his keys again and knelt down to reach into Star's cage. He unlocked the chains that were binding Star's legs and then pulled them out of her way. "I can't let you out yet..." She didn't trust him, but he didn't trust her not to escape.

Star stood up in her cage and stretched out her legs gratefully. It felt good to be able to get up and walk around again.

"She still has the clamps on her wings." Elizabeth pointed out. "It's not like she could go anywhere." The clamps would make Star too heavy to swim and they prevented her from flying.

Havardr shook his head. "Star is too important to even risk losing at this point. She stays in the cage for now."

"_Star would like an explanation as to why she's so damned important."_ Star said with a snort.

Havardr couldn't help the little snort of his own from the sarcasm in Star's voice. "There's a lot of things about you that make you important Star." He crossed his arms over his chest. "The white night fury is the symbol of our homeland. We wouldn't be who we are today if it wasn't for the white night fury."

Star rolled her eyes._ "The white night fury is a symbol. Big deal. I'm sure all the other white night furies feel so special." _She didn't see how being a symbol for a people was so special.

Havardr sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "There are no other white night furies Morning Star. You're it." She needed to know that now otherwise the rest of his explanation wouldn't have the same meaning. "Only one white night fury is ever born ever thousand years. Your kidnapping broke your mother's heart and she died within the week."

Her being the only white night fury was probably a good reason as to why she was important; at least that's what Star figured. But it wasn't really a reason for kidnapping her. "_You know you could have just told Berk the truth of where I'm from and that I'm the only white night fury." _She pointed out slowly. "_Hell you could have told them about Drago Bludvist and they would have understood." _How could Havardr have been so stupid not to say anything to the people of Berk? He'd seen how much the humans had cared for their dragons when he'd last been there.

"Doesn't matter." Havardr said coldly. "People change when you tell them how rare a dragon is." In his travels over the years he'd seen many examples of rare dragons being killed or imprisoned. "Dragons aren't pets or playthings to ride around on. They're people just like humans are." He leaned against the wall of the ship. "The people of Berk ride dragons like animals. They might seem like loving and friendly humans, but how do you know that won't change the second they learned the truth?"

"_I-I know they wouldn't hurt me!" _Star winced slightly as she yelled at Havardr. The people of Berk had been nothing but kind to her over the years. Sure some had been a little more...forceful when trying to get a saddle on her back, but she'd made her point time and time again that she would not be ridden. "_When Drago Bludvist captured their dragons the people of Berk fought to free them! Their friendship with dragons means everything to them!" _

Havardr shook his head. Star was too naive to accept the fact that outsiders just couldn't be trusted. "Be that as it may we can't take the chance of telling them."

Star cursed and growled softly. Why couldn't Havardr understand that the people of Berk were good? "_If we go back now and just tell them the truth they'll forgive you for kidnapping me." _Star said quickly to try and get Havardr to understand. "_Just tell Chief Hiccup the truth. He understand dragons better then anyone else! He'll know what to do." _

Havardr shook his head harder this time. "I'll admit that the Chief of Berk seemed like a good man, but it's too late to go back now." He uncrossed his arms and started walking towards the stairs that would lead back to the deck. "You're needed back home Star." With that Havardr stomped up the wooden steps and was gone.

Star looked around widely and then up at her mother. "_Mother, I have to go back to Berk." _She looked at her mother with wide pleading eyes. "_I have to go back and tell Toothless and Hiccup the truth! They'll understand! I have to get back to Toothless." _

Elizabeth slowly shook her head as she caressed Star's head. "I can't understand you Star..." She said sadly as Star continued to make pleading sounds. "Trust me that this is the right thing to do? Please Star." The sadness and misery that filled Star's yellow eyes made the older woman wince in pain. "Everything will work out in the end. You'll see."

Star shook her head miserably. "_Toothless will find me and when he does you'll be in danger."_ She had little doubt in her mind how angry Toothless would be when he finally caught up to them. She didn't much care about what would happen to Havardr, but she would protect her mother from the black night furies wrath.

Elizabeth stayed with Star for the rest of the day and a cot was set up for her so the elderly woman would be comfortable when she slept. Star didn't get any more explanations nor did she see Havardr for the rest of the day. As night fell she didn't get much sleep. Instead Star wondered just how far away Toothless was and when he'd finally rescue her.

* * *

><p>AN:

I really hope this chapter explains why Star was kidnapped. I know a few people had issues with the last chapter, but I had reason for explaining things the way I did.

Think about what happened when Hiccup first befriended Toothless. Sure things turned out good in the end, but it took a lot of work and sacrifice for that to happen. Havardr's people lost faith in the outside world after they lost Morning Star. Up until then they'd tried over and over again to end the hatred between humans and dragons. Trust is not an easy thing to gain.


	10. Intermission-Important info please read

**Night and Day Intermission**

Ok so what I have to tell you guys is a bit lengthy (more lengthy then I like to put in an authors note) so here's an intermission for you guys.

* * *

><p>I feel like I need to give all of you wonderful readers an explanation about my personal writing style. After a couple comments and messages about the last couple chapters I've been feeling like I've let you guys down. I'm not going to stop writing Night and Day, but I need to make a few things clear about what is going on.<p>

"You see my writing style isn't black and white. I don't write about pure "good vs. evil" stuff. A lot of my work sits in that grey area of "well it seemed like a good idea at the time." I like to write about character development and about the little things that a lot of people ignore. In a lot of my writing I'll take an obvious bad guy and dig deeper into WHY they're the bad guy. You'll see a lot of this in my other story "Naraku's Prisoner"

I understand there will sometimes be a pure bad guy that does things "just because they can", but to me that's boring. I like to really develop the reasons behind such evil behavior. I like to write things that make people see things from a different perspective; to make it so that the reader develops a relationship with the antagonist if only so that they hate him/her more.

That's what Night and Day is about. So far we've uncovered the evil character "Havardr". I could just leave the kidnapping as a simple kidnapping, but to me that feels lacking. In future chapters you'll learn more about why Star was kidnapped and what she means to the future of the world. Yes there will be a very dark and evil character and yes there are going to be deaths. In chapter 8 I was setting things up so that you, the readers, got a taste of why Star was kidnapped. I cleared things up in Chapter 9 as to why Havardr took the step to kidnap her instead of talking to people.

In essence Night and Day is about Trust and growth. I wanted to bring back the distrust that was touched upon in the first "How to Train Your Dragon", but write about it in such a way that instead of humans mistrusting dragons, it's humans against other humans. The whole idea of Trust plays a big part in Night and Day. You see it in the beginning when Star trusts Toothless enough to continue living. We see it later when Toothless puts his trust in Berk to help him find Star. We see how much damage Drago does when he destroys the trust that Havardr's people have with the outside world.

You, the readers, need to know that I started writing this after a major breakup in my life. The trust I had for love was ruined and I felt like I'd never love anyone the way I used to love my fiance. Writing Night and Day was my way of coping and by developing these trust issues in the story I was able to explore why it was so hard for me to move on. If it seems like things don't make sense in the story don't worry, it'll make sense as time goes on. Things don't usually make sense right away in real life after all; you just have to keep going until all the pieces fall into place.

I needed to tell all of you this so that I can move forward and keep writing. If I didn't then I know I would have fallen into another block and you wouldn't have seen me for a few months. I don't want to do that to you guys, not at such an important part of the story.


	11. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own it. Who wants to be a ninja and steal the rights for me?

Chapter 10: Explanations

A/N: For those that didn't read the intermission please do so. There is important contest information there that you will be interested in.

Previously:

Star looked around widely and then up at her mother. "_Mother, I have to go back to Berk." _She looked at her mother with wide pleading eyes. "_I have to go back and tell Toothless and Hiccup the truth! They'll understand! I have to get back to Toothless." _

Elizabeth slowly shook her head as she caressed Star's head. "I can't understand you Star..." She said sadly as Star continued to make pleading sounds. "Trust me that this is the right thing to do? Please Star." The sadness and misery that filled Star's yellow eyes made the older woman wince in pain. "Everything will work out in the end. You'll see."

Star shook her head miserably. "_Toothless will find me and when he does you'll be in danger."_ She had little doubt in her mind how angry Toothless would be when he finally caught up to them. She didn't much care about what would happen to Havardr, but she would protect her mother from the black night furies wrath.

Elizabeth stayed with Star for the rest of the day and a cot was set up for her so the elderly woman would be comfortable when she slept. Star didn't get any more explanations nor did she see Havardr for the rest of the day. As night fell she didn't get much sleep. Instead Star wondered just how far away Toothless was and when he'd finally rescue her.

* * *

><p>The group flew for hours until finally Hiccup spotted an island slowly growing on the horizon. "Great." He mumbled in annoyance. "The Outcast island." It was easy for him to recognize the island he'd once been taken to.<p>

Hiccup knew that Trader Johann went to many of the islands around Berk, and he knew that the man even visited the Outcast Island, he had just been hoping that maybe Trader Johann had been in a more hospitable place.

"What do we do Chief?" Eret asked as they grew closer and closer to the Outcast Island. Having lived with the people of Berk for over ten years he'd learned quite a bit about their feelings concerning the Outcasts.

Hiccup felt more then heard Toothless growl. "We go in, question Johann, then leave." He reached forward to place a calming hand on Toothless's neck.

"And if things get violent?" Eret frowned a bit at that.

Toothless growled louder and he let the fire build up in his mouth. "_Then WE get violent."_ No one would stand in his way of finding and saving Star. No one.

Toothless's little show was enough to answer Eret's question and it wasn't long before the dragons began to descend.

Hiccup sighed as several of the outcasts pointed up at him and Eret on their dragons. 'That didn't last long.' He thought to himself. "Let's land bud." Hiccup told Toothless. Now that they'd been seen they really shouldn't put off this short visit.

Toothless nodded in agreement and he swiftly made his way down to the docks where Johann's boat was located. Skullcrusher landed shortly after him.

"We're only here to talk to Johann." Hiccup said loudly as several outcast Vikings rushed onto the docks and towards them. "We'll leave shortly."

Toothless growled and let the fire build up in his mouth again to warn off the outcast. Most knew who he and Hiccup were so they quickly backed up.

"Chief Hiccup! This is a surprise." Johann said as he came up from below deck. "What brings you here to the Outcast Island?"

Hiccup, knowing that they wouldn't be long, didn't dismount from Toothless's saddle. "Morning Star's been kidnapped." He said quickly. "We think that man you brought a few months ago, Havardr Colby, is behind it."

The genuine look of surprise on Johann's face concerned Hiccup. "Well that…that doesn't make sense." Johann rubbed his head.

"Why is that?" Eret demanded. He too hadn't dismounted from his dragon.

"Well ya see," Johann started quickly. "Where the place that Havardr is from is just like Berk." Johann had been very surprised when his ship had washed up on the shores of Havardr's homeland.

Hiccup's concern started to grow. "What do you mean Johann?"

"They have dragons there like Berk does." Johann said with a shrug. "It's why when Havardr asked to come along with me I agreed. Dragons seemed so important to Havardr's people."

Toothless cursed and shook his head. "_I don't believe it."_ He said even though the only one there that would understand him would be Skullcrusher. "_Someone who holds dragons in such high regard would never outright kidnap one."_ Then again he didn't know anything about the place Havardr had come from. For all he knew it was an island full of people like Drago Bludvist.

"Where is this island Johann?" Hiccup asked as he rubbed Toothless's neck to keep him calm. "We need to know. We have to find Star."

Johann was conflicted about what to tell Hiccup. Technically he'd sworn not to tell anyone about where the island was; he'd had to make that deal if he'd ever wanted to leave. But with Morning Star gone he knew he'd be in big trouble if he didn't say anything.

"I'll get my map." Johann said with resignation as he went back below the deck of his ship. The air was tense on the dock as Hiccup and Eret waited for the trader to return. Finally Johann returned and in his hands was a large rolled up parchment. "It's a copy of my map, but it's accurate."

Hiccup reached down and tried to take the map. "Chief…I know how important Morning Star is to Berk. She's a sweet lass for a dragon, but I'm sure what has happened wasn't because of Havardr Colby."

Hiccup frowned. "We have to make sure. He's the only lead right now."

Johann nodded and let go of the map so Hiccup could take it. "Do me a favor then; when and if you get to that island do not let them know I'm your source." Toothless scared him, but he was pretty sure if Havardr's people knew that he had been the one to tell Hiccup and Toothless where their island was, Johann wouldn't live for too much longer.

Hiccup put the map securely away in his bag before nodding. "You won't be mentioned." With that he set Toothless's tailfin in the takeoff position. It was enough of a signal that Toothless took off seconds after followed by Skullcrusher and Eret.

After they'd put some distance between themselves and the Outcast Island Eret finally spoke up. "What now Chief?" He asked pensively.

Hiccup sighed. He knew what Toothless wanted; to go out and immediately hunt down the bastards that had taken Star, but they needed to do this the smart way. "We go back to Berk and question the prisoner." He was pretty sure they would be able to get some sort of answer out of the man. "Then we'll hunt down this island Havardr is from."

Eret nodded. It was a solid plan and he knew it would only get more detailed the longer Hiccup had to work on it.

If there was one benefit of having dragons as travel companions it was the fact that flying on a dragon cut the travel time well in half. They made it back to Berk in record time.

"Hiccup!" Astrid was the first person to make her way to Hiccup and Toothless when they landed. She skidded to a stop when she noticed just how angry Toothless was. "What happened?"

Hiccup climbed off of Toothless and sighed. "Johann gave us a map to Havardr's island." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Has the prisoner said anything?"

The shake of Astrid's head made Toothless snarl. Many of the Vikings nearby jumped and backed away in fear of Toothless. No one had seen him like that since Drago Bludvist had tried to attack Berk.

"Come on bud. Let's go meet this guy." Hiccup said coldly. Toothless growled and nodded in agreement. "Just remember, we need this guy alive."

"_We'll see."_ Toothless grumbled as he followed after Hiccup to Berk's prison cells.

When they arrived to the prison cells Toothless had worked himself into quite a fury. He was at the point that his blue fire was glowing dimly through his scales and tendrils of smoke were floating from his mouth.

"Come on bud, we need to keep our cool." Hiccup whispered as the two of them were led to the most secure of the prison cells. Astrid had done a good job in making sure the man would not get away. Several guards stood at five foot intervals outside of the man's cell and the particular cell that the man was in had only a tiny slit in the wall for a window.

"Unlock the door." Hiccup ordered one of the guards when Toothless finally got his fire under control.

The door opened slowly and Hiccup got a good look at the dark haired man chained to the floor.

"Are you going to talk now?" Hiccup asked as he and Toothless entered the cell.

The stranger looked up calmly with his green eyes. His right eye was rimmed with a dark bruise, there was a bandaged cut on his cheek, and it looked like his arm was broken. Snotlout had really tried to get this guy to talk.

"Are you the chief?" The man asked hoarsely. He frowned a little and cleared his throat.

Hiccup poked his head out of the cell. "Get some water." He said softly to one of the guards.

Toothless dug his claws into the stone floor beneath him and his shoulders shook in suppressed rage. "_Where is she?_" he demanded coldly. "_Where is my Star?!" _

The prisoner slowly looked at Toothless with his calm green eyes.

The way the man looked at Toothless, so unafraid and unaffected by the obviously enraged night fury, just pushed Toothless over. His fire came raging back and his scales lit up with his blue fire. "_WHERE IS SHE?!" _

"Damnit!" Hiccup cursed as he quickly wrapped his arms around Toothless's neck to try and hold him back from attacking the stranger. He knew he wouldn't be able to physically stop him, but he knew Toothless would hold still so long as Hiccup was touching him.

The man blinked and stared at the hissing and screaming night fury. Molten drops of his plasma dripped out of his mouth and sizzled against the floor.

Toothless could smell the lingering scent of Star's fear and panic on the man. If his Hiccup hadn't been holding onto him Toothless would have mauled the man to make him answer for what he'd done.

"Tell us what you did with Morning Star," Hiccup said quickly. The guards had rushed into the room when Hiccup had cursed only to hastily back out again at the sight of Toothless. "The white night fury. Where is she?"

The man looked from Hiccup to Toothless still as silent as a grave.

This was the last straw for Toothless. Using a wing and his tail Toothless pushed Hiccup off of him and then, when Hiccup was safely away from his plasma, Toothless rushed at the stranger and pinned him to the ground. "_Where is MY MATE!" _His eyes were slits with rage and madness as he threateningly let the plasma drip right over the man's head.

The calm and uncaring look the man had been sporting changed to one of satisfaction and he smiled just a bit up at Toothless. "She is safe." He stated plainly and simply.

Hiccup knew that he wouldn't be able to get Toothless off of the man until the man had finally told us something or had died. "What do you mean 'safe'? You kidnapped her."

The man turned his head a fraction of an inch to look over at Hiccup. "Yes, but no harm will come to her."

"Pardon us for not trusting you." Hiccup said sarcastically as he leaned against the wall of the prison cell. Suddenly he felt better about Toothless being so close to killing the man.

"_Give her back to me." _Toothless hissed as he dug a claw into the man's broken arm. There was a soft crunching sound and Toothless got a bit of satisfaction from the man's pained expression.

Hiccup winced as he heard the crunch and he sighed. "You better tell him something or else you're going to lose that arm permanently." The healers on Berk were very experienced with broken limbs, but they couldn't repair something that was nothing but splinters.

It wasn't the pain that finally made him talk; it was the commands from an Alpha. "I-I was left behind to e-evaluate the male night fury." He said as he hissed in pain, but Toothless lifted up a little on the pressure he was applying to the man's arm.

Hiccup frowned. "Evaluate him for what?"

"Evaluate his connection to the female!" The man said quickly so Toothless wouldn't reapply the pressure. "To see how close they were!"

Hiccup was silent for several long minutes as he really thought about what the man had said. He'd had a feeling that when Star grew up she and Toothless would become more then friends. He figured they would become mates if only because they were the only two left.

"You were thinking about kidnapping Toothless weren't you?" Hiccup asked slowly. The only reason to study a male dragon after stealing a female was to see if the two would fight to get back to each other. Hiccup had learned over the years that when dragons mated nothing stood in their way of each other.

The man quickly shook his head. "I'm under orders-"He hesitated then. Toothless moved his paw to dig a claw slowly into the man's shoulder. "I'm under orders to not say anything until I was sure the two were a mated pair!"

"Toothless I think he gets the point." Hiccup said as he pushed off the wall to walk over to Toothless. "You'll keep talking?"

The man slowly nodded. Hiccup pulled Toothless off of the man and tried to get him to sit down.

Even though he was off of the man he continued to growl and light up his scales with his blue fire.

The man winced as he sat up and his shoulder started to bleed. Hiccup stuck his head out of the cell again and shortly afterwards a middle aged woman came in to wrap his shoulder and look at his arm.

"Let's get a few things straight." Hiccup said as he leaned against Toothless's side. "I know your island has dragons like Berk and I know Havardr Colby has something to do with this." No matter what Johann had said Hiccup was positive Havardr was behind the kidnapping. "Toothless knows when people are lying to him so I suggest you keep your answers honest and straight to the point."

The man nodded. His mind worked fast to figure out just how he would explain things. He wouldn't be able to tell these people everything; he was under oath to keep his people safe. "Havardr took your white night fury." He said quickly. "I swear she will not be harmed."

Hiccup nodded. "What were your orders?"

The man licked his lips and let out a yelp when the healer started setting his arm again. "There are some things I can't say." The man quickly continued. "To protect my people! Please! I'll tell you about my orders, but there are some things I just can tell you."

Toothless growled sharply at the man and his tail lashed back and forth. "_You are in NO position to compromise!" _

Hiccup looked at Toothless and could guess at what the night fury had said. "We'll see. I can respect you protecting your people, but if your answers are not satisfactory I will need more."

The man hesitantly nodded. He had been worried that the Chief of Berk would be a little less forgiving.

"Now…what were your orders?"

* * *

><p>Star honestly didn't sleep well during the night. The rocking ship and the sounds of the waves brought back to many memories of the night her sister had died. It didn't help that she was afraid she'd wake up only to find that her mother had been a figment of her imagination. Star didn't know if she would be able to take the loss of her mother a second time.<p>

She could tell when morning came as the people up on deck started moving around more. The deck above her was crafted well enough that very little light could seep through the cracks.

Star's ears lifted up when she heard light whispers near the stairs leading up to the deck. She looked over and growled softly when she spotted several men looking in at her. Her growling didn't seem to phase them as they just stared at her. Star felt a bit nervous as she realized they were looking at her with awed fascination.

"I see you're awake."

She jumped to her feet and spun around to face Havardr who was leaning against the wall of the ship. How had she not noticed him standing there? How long had he been standing there? "_What do you want?" _she growled out angrily.

Havardr sighed and shook his head. "I brought breakfast." He waved towards the basket with fish in it and a plate of food for Elizabeth.

Star eyed the fish warily, but didn't say anything further. She wasn't too hungry, but she knew humans needed to eat on a regular basis. She waited silently as Havardr brought the basket of fish to her. He'd wait to give Elizabeth her food since the elderly woman was still asleep on her cot.

"_You brought breakfast. Now what do you want." _Star demanded as she pulled the basket closer to herself. Even though she wasn't hungry it wouldn't hurt to eat one or two of the fish; it'd be a waist of perfectly good Icelandic cod if she didn't eat it.

Havardr rubbed the bridge of her nose. "You know...I'm starting to get the feeling that you're a brat." He mumbled quietly to himself. Havardr dropped his hands when he spoke up. "I promised you explanations. I'll tell them to you if you're willing to listen."

Star swallowed her first fish and thought about his offer. She didn't much like Havardr, but she did want to know what the hell was going on. Maybe if she knew what was going on she'd be able to get back to Berk. "_Fine." _She huffed out.

Havardr sighed and shook his head again. This dragon really was a brat, but he knew it wasn't completely her fault. The situation was not the best and it was probably putting both him and her on edge. He hoped that things would get better by the time they made it back to the Island; he didn't know what he was going to do if he had to drag Star off the boat in chains.

"From the beginning then." Havardr said as he pushed up off the wall and went to one of the crates near Star's crate. Despite her growling at him he reached in and pulled out a large rolled up canvas. With a huff he carried it over to the wall and used two daggers to pin the canvas to the wall. Havardr tugged once to make sure the canvas would stay before letting go.

The canvas unrolled to reveal a large map. Star quickly recognized the cluster of islands where Berk was and she looked at that part of the map longingly.

"This is a map of the known world." Havardr said as he blocked the part of the map Star had been staring out with his body. He rolled his eyes when Star simply glared at him. "You already know where Berk is." He said with a huff as he pointed to the far bottom left of the map. "This is our home. Øya Natt og dag."

'Island of Night and Day.' Star thought as she looked at the large landmass. It looked to be a few times larger then Berk. Off to the right side of the map seemed to be a blurry landmass that stretched off of the map. Her eyes went back and forth from the island to where Havardr was standing. "_That's a lot of Ocean."_ She said blandly.

Havardr nodded and shrugged. "It's pretty accurate. Natt og Dag is almost a month of travel away from most places." And that was just if they had good weather. If the weather was perfect the time could usually be cut by a few days to a week. With a dragon pulling a boat usually people could get too and from in just a week.

"Anyway." Havardr cleared his throat so he could keep going before being interrupted again. "Something like a few thousand years ago the first humans crash landed on Natt og Dag. They soon discovered that the island was home to many species of dragons." He'd give Star the short version of the history lesson. "A huge war started between the humans and dragons. It lasted for generations."

Star rolled her eyes. "_I'm not a child you know. I don't get bored easily." _She hated it when adults treated her like she had a short attention span.

"Too bad." Havardr said with a huff. "Anyway. So there was a huge war. Lots of humans and dragons died." He didn't much like talking about the war; not many people from Natt og Dag did. "The war ended when a young human child got lost and found herself in the heart of the dragon nest." He held up a hand before Star could interrupt. "The dragons had only ever encountered the angry adult humans so this frail and quiet girl was a surprise to them. The dragons took the human child to their alpha to find out what to do with her."

Star didn't much like the way Havardr was telling his story, but she had a feeling if she interrupted again he'd probably walk out.

"The alpha didn't know what to do with the human child, who was frightened out of her mind, so he sent her to the dragon queen." Havardr paused there as he considered whether or not to edit out some of the important parts. Shaking his head he continued. "The dragon queen, a white night fury mother, saw this child for what she was: an innocent child. So she made a decision to give the gift of speech to the human child. Once she could understand the dragons the white night fury escorted her back to the humans. The human child became a bridge between the dragons and the humans." He really was editing out quite a bit of the story, but he figured Star would learn the rest later.

Star frowned at Havardr as he told the obviously watered down version of the story. The mention of the white night fury made Star curious as well as this 'gift' that the dragon had given to the human child.

"One by one the white night fury gave the gift of speech to other humans until finally there was peace." Havardr looked down at his nails for a moment waiting for Star to ask her questions. He looked up at her in curiosity when she remained silent. "So yeah. After that the humans built a town where both dragons and humans could live side by side. Pretty soon the dragons told the humans all their secrets and the white night fury became a symbol of the island." Havardr paused again as if waiting for Star to ask a question.

"_Oh! I can talk now?"_ She asked sarcastically when Havardr looked at her expectantly. "_So how d__id this white night fury 'give the gift of speech' to the human?" _She asked curiously.

Havardr had figured that would be Star's first question. "The queen dragon bit the human." He chuckled a little at the wide eyed expression on Star's face. "And before you ask, because I know you will, only a white night fury can do it. Normal night furies don't seem to be able to do the weird...magic...stuff that the white ones can."

Star looked down at her paws as she thought about what he'd told her. She looked over at her mother and an idea came to her. "_So if I...bit someone they would be able to understand me?"_

Havardr frowned a little as he followed her line of sight to the still sleeping Elizabeth. "I wouldn't suggest it quite yet." He said as he rubbed the back of his head. "Usually the mother teaches the daughter about what she can do, but you never got to learn." He pointed out. "You'll need to talk to the elders. I don't know the stories on how that stuff works."

Star frowned and her muzzle wrinkled. "_And why can't I ask another night fury about all of this?" _

Havardr shook his head violently and scowled. "I thought you'd be smart enough to figure it out."

"_Figure out what?" _Star demanded coldly.

"I told you before Star that you're the only white night fury; that only 1 is born every thousand years." He was pretty sure Star had forgotten some of what he'd told her yesterday. "The other night furies can't do what the white can do. Did your night fury on Berk tell you all this?" Havardr asked sharply.

Star reeled back. No, Toothless hadn't told her any of this. Was it really possible that he hadn't known? He'd told her how he'd lost his parents as a young adult night fury, but they would have told him something before they'd died...right?

Havardr relaxed seeing as how he was finally getting through to Star. "We need you back home Star...not many people are born with the gift of speech. There are quite a few people who can't talk to dragons." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Life just isn't the same without a white night fury."

"_Is that really why you kidnapped me?" _Star demanded. "_To...to bite a bunch of people? That's...that's so stupid! The people of Berk can't talk to dragons and they do just fine!" _

Havardr's patience snapped. "You know what? Forget it. I'm done for today." He stormed up the stairs and back up on deck angrily. He'd come to the conclusion that Morning Star was a brat who had no idea just how important dragons were to the people of Natt og Dag. He'd let someone else explain things to her.

"You shouldn't be so hard on him Star." Elizabeth said softly as she sat up on her cot. "He's been searching for you for years. When everyone else gave up hope he continued to search."

Star winced as if slapped by her mother's words. She didn't care if she was being difficult or not...she just wanted to go home and be with Toothless again.

* * *

><p>AN:

So yeah. If you haven't read the intermission go read it. There is important info about a contest there. You should go read it.


	12. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Still don't own it. Maybe if I somehow summon Toothless to this world The creators of HTTYD will give it to me! :: Starts researching dragon summon magic ::

A/N: Do you guys want to be a part of the story? Check out my Deviant Art (link is in my ff profile). I'm having a contest right now that might interest you.

Chapter 11: And still more Explanations

Previously:

Havardr relaxed seeing as how he was finally getting through to Star. "We need you back home Star...not many people are born with the gift of speech. There are quite a few people who can't talk to dragons." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Life just isn't the same without a white night fury."

"_Is that really why you kidnapped me?" _Star demanded. "_To...to bite a bunch of people? That's...that's so stupid! The people of Berk can't talk to dragons and they do just fine!" _

Havardr's patience snapped. "You know what? Forget it. I'm done for today." He stormed up the stairs and back up on deck angrily. He'd come to the conclusion that Morning Star was a brat who had no idea just how important dragons were to the people of Natt og Dag. He'd let someone else explain things to her.

"You shouldn't be so hard on him Star." Elizabeth said softly as she sat up on her cot. "He's been searching for you for years. When everyone else gave up hope he continued to search."

Star winced as if slapped by her mother's words. She didn't care if she was being difficult or not...she just wanted to go home and be with Toothless again.

* * *

><p>The prisoner hesitated for a moment with his head hanging as he organized his thoughts. There was so much he couldn't tell these people, but he knew he would probably have to at some point. With how the enraged night fury was staring at him the man was sure he wouldn't have much time left in this world. He knew when he'd volunteered for this mission that he could and would probably lose his life, but he knew just how important this mission was.<p>

"My orders," The man started saying slowly. "Were to stay behind. I was first and foremost supposed to determine the relationship between the white night fury and the black." His words were careful and slow so he could be sure that people understood what he was saying. "No matter what, I was only supposed to observe." This job was only supposed to be recon. "The main mission was to get the white night fury..."

Hiccup frowned a little. Although the man was trying to explain things to them he was doing so in a very slow and round about way. He could be patient, but he knew Toothless needed answers. "Go on." He said tensely as he did his best to remain calm.

The man kept his head down while he spoke. "Another ship was supposed to arrive in a week or so. If by then I'd determined that the black night fury was in fact the white's mate then a team would come and acquire him as well." The man was very glad that the chief of Berk seemed to have Toothless under control. "If not we'd pull out."

"And what are your people planning on doing with the night furies?" Hiccup asked with a snarl. He could only think of so many things that people would want a pair of night furies for.

Again the man went silent as he organized his thoughts. He quickly spoke up though when Toothless snarled and took a threatening step forward. "We just wanted to bring her home!" The man said quickly. "The white night fury had been stolen from us when she was just a baby! We've been searching for her for years!"

Hiccup cursed under his breath. "That doesn't make sense." He pointed a finger at the man to empathize his point. "If this was a rescue mission why not tell us the truth? We're not savages; we would have listened." The people of Berk had worked hard to change their image among the islands. Hell stories about Berk had gone as far as the mainland.

"My people don't trust outsiders. We've been hurt to many times." The man said with a hint of his own anger. "We didn't know what you would do. We couldn't take the chance of telling you and possibly losing the white night fury again." Slowly he looked up at Hiccup. His gaze was cold and filled with hatred for these outsiders. He didn't care what they did to him; he cared about what the outside world had been doing to his people.

Hiccup sucked in his breath sharply as he held the man's gaze. The look in those eyes told him more then the man could ever say out loud; he and his people had been betrayed by an outsider in the worst possible way. Whatever had happened had been the last straw and now this man's people would do everything in their power to protect themselves.

"Star is important to your people." It was more of a fact then a question. Hiccup watched as the man looked back down. "This isn't a matter of just rescuing a dragon that came from your home. She's actually important. Your people are willing to travel halfway across the world, sneak onto an island inhabited by dragons and vikings, and kidnap her." It really wasn't that difficult for Hiccup to weigh out just how important Star was. "You've been betrayed and hurt to a point where you won't trust anyone." The man refused to look up at Hiccup again. "I can't say I wouldn't do the same if I was in enemy territory and I was trying to save someone I care about...but you've made a big mistake stealing Morning Star."

Hiccup gently rubbed the top of Toothless's head. "The People of Berk, both vikings and dragons, adore Morning Star. She's a part of our family." Hiccup looked into Toothless's eyes when the night fury looked up at him. "We're going to go after your people that took her. We'll chase them down. We'll fight them if we have to. We will save Morning Star." With that Hiccup turned to leave. They knew where the people were going so they didn't need anything more from the prisoner.

"Wait please!" The man said suddenly. He looked up sharply and his eyes were filled with desperation. "We need her! She's the only hope we have; please don't..." He was at a loss of words for a moment. "Don't take her."

Hiccup wished he could feel empathy for the man that was the only connection they had to the people that had kidnapped Star. He was silent for a few minutes as he stared at the man. "We're still going after them. You'll be coming with us." He said softly. "You'll have until we catch up to Star and her kidnappers to convince Toothless not to go on a rampage to save Star." A growl from his night fury empathized his point.

With that Hiccup left followed by Toothless. "Don't worry Toothless. We'll get Morning Star back." Hiccup said softly as the two of them made their way outside and towards the Great Hall.

To be honest Hiccup didn't know what made him more upset; Morning Star being kidnapped or the fact that the kidnappers hadn't trusted the people of Berk enough to tell them the truth. He understood what it was like to be betrayed, to be attacked because of his beliefs, but that was no excuse! They should have just told him the truth of the matter right away instead of going behind his back.

"_I'll kill them."_ Toothless grumbled under his breath as he glared at the ground in front of him. He didn't care about the reason behind Star's kidnapping! He didn't care how important she was to those people; they'd stolen his mate and he would not allow them to live for much longer.

"Hiccup!" Hiccup paused in his angry walk to the Great Hall as his wife came rushing up to him. "The boats are ready to go Hiccup." Astrid told him as she came to a stop. "Just give us the word and we'll go."

Hiccup looked away from Astrid. "How many ships?" He eyes wandered the village before him. The atmosphere was tense and there were vikings hurrying around as they prepared for battle. Not all of them would be leaving, but generations of training and fighting had everyone ready for anything.

"Our four best sea faring vessels." Astrid replied. "The largest ones that were designed to let dragons rest on them." She knew Hiccup well enough to be able to predict what his plans were.

Hiccup contemplated what needed to be done. Those particular ships had been designed based off several foreign concepts. With more and more people coming from farther and farther away to enroll in the academy Hiccup had been able to get his hands on blueprints and designs that vikings hadn't had access to in the past.

"I'm coming." Astrid said quickly before Hiccup could finish deciding who to take with him.

"I need you here Astrid." Hiccup said with a sigh and a frown. "Iona needs one of her parents here."

Astrid frowned just as equally at Hiccup. "I'm coming. Stormfly is one of the best distance fliers we have." She punched Hiccup's shoulder hard then. "And I'm not letting you out of my sight. We've been together long enough that I know how much trouble you can get into when you're away from me." She pressed a finger against Hiccup's lips to stop him from arguing. "Don't worry about Iona. She's already ordered me to get Star back. And before you tell me the village needs me Snotlout has already agreed to watch over the village."

Hiccup felt a hand cover his mouth before he could even come up with another argument. "Fishlegs is taking care of the academy. I'm coming. Your mother has already volunteered, as has Eret."

Hiccup frowned against the hand on his lips. Didn't he get a say in the actual plan? It was his plan...wasn't it? "Anyone else volunteer?" Hiccup asked when the hand was finally lifted away.

"Oh plenty of people did! Almost the entire village wants to chase after the bastards that took Star." Astrid said with a huff and a sigh. "I've narrowed down the list and told everyone to meet up at the Great Hall for you to make the final pick." Astrid told her husband and chief. She was silent for a moment as she took Hiccup's hand. "You never realize just how much someone means to you until their gone." She mumbled softly. "Morning Star...has become such a big part of Berk these last ten years."

Hiccup covered Astrid's hand and the two vikings stood like that in silence for several long minutes. "We'll get her back."

"_No matter what."_

* * *

><p>Havardr continued to curse under his breath as he went to the head of the ship to stair down into the depths of the water. He could hear the light chatter coming from the dragons below and it made him smile a little. His smile faded though as he thought about the young people back on Natt og Dag. He couldn't imagine what it must be like to not be able to talk to dragons and live along side humans that could. He knew a lot of the teens and kids didn't mind, but he also knew quite a few of them felt...lonely.<p>

"I'm sorry about Morning Star." Havardr turned his head slightly to look at the elderly Elizabeth. He looked away and back into the water. "Even as a hatchling she's been stubborn. She's very protective of the things and people she cares about."

"That's the nature of a night fury." Havardr said softly. "As soon as they care about something or someone they'll never stop caring." He'd grown up around night furies. "It's even more true with the white night fury..." The decision to kidnap her had not been an easy one and he wished there had been another way, but outsiders could not be trusted.

Elizabeth nodded and chuckled softly. "Star loved collecting things as a baby." She smiled gratefully as Havardr pulled up an upturned bucket for her to sit. "The room she shared with Brighid was always full of little things that the two of them had found while exploring." Elizabeth sighed softly as she remembered her life ten odd years ago. "Star never actually played with the things she found. I'd find her just...staring. Her eyes would be unfocused and she'd just stare for hours."

Havardr looked back at the stairs leading below deck. He was silent for a long time. "The elders say a white night fury can look into a person's very soul and see just what kind of person they are." His gaze softened a little. "I wonder how it works; being able to just know a person so intimately." He didn't even know if Star knew she could do it.

Slowly the old woman stood up and placed her hand gently on Havardr's shoulder. She waited until the man sighed and turned his head away from the stairs to look at her. "Give her another chance Havardr. She's confused, upset, afraid, and missing someone she loves very much." Elizabeth knew in her heart that Havardr hadn't actually given up hope, but she just wanted to help push him in the right direction.

Havardr looked at the hand that was on his shoulder. Even under the wrinkles the skin was a smooth milky white. "Just...give me a little bit?" He asked softly as he pulled away from that hand. "She's not the only one hurting."

Elizabeth hesitated when Havardr pulled away from her. Her hand hovered in the air for a moment before it dropped down to her side. "Alright Havardr...alright." She let out a long breath before turning and heading for the stairs slowly.

For what felt like forever Havardr continued staring into the ocean. His eyes slowly wandered up until he was looking up into the cloudy sky. Thoughts floated through his mind one by one. Slowly, with several long and deep breaths, Havardr calmed himself. The anger he'd felt towards Star faded and eventually he was able to stand back up and head back below deck to confront the dragon.

He knew Star wouldn't trust him and it was possible she would never actually believe him, but there was one thing he could tell her that would at least get her to understand the gravity of the situation. He winced as he came to the decision that he would have to tell her his own personal story.

Havardr found Elizabeth sitting next to Star's cage with her sewing in one hand. She was speaking quietly to Star who was watching the elder woman with rapt attention. The way Star's eyes were glazed over and still just made Havardr wonder if she'd figured out how to use that particular talent that the elders had spoken of.

"Star." The white night fury broke her gaze from her mother. Her eyes narrowed as she glared at Havardr, but she bit her tongue to keep from saying anything. "I'll let you out of the cage Star...if you'll listen to one more story."

When the white night fury didn't say anything Havardr sat down on the floor in front of her cage. "Over 20 years ago a man called Drago Bludvist washed up on the shores of Natt og Dag. I really young then and I'd never really thought about the outside world." He closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at Star as he told her this particular story.

"At first he didn't trust us; why would he? Dragons had destroyed his home and had killed his family. After awhile though he opened up. I was too young to actually talk to him, but I met him once." Havardr shivered as he recalled those crazed black eyes and that gravelly deep voice. "The madness that people saw in him, they thought it would fade with time as he learned to trust our dragons. After a year of teaching him about dragons, about how they weren't evil creatures, he turned on us."

Havardr's eyes closed tighter. His breathing shortened and it took all his strength to continue on with the story. "Somehow he'd learned about the White Queen's ability to give the gift of communication to humans. He wanted it." Havardr shook his head. "The white night fury at the time, your mother, she saw the darkness in Drago and refused his request. Determined to take what he wanted Drago kidnapped the children of various dragons and held them hostage to make the dragons obey him."

Star watched Havardr with narrowed eyes as he told his story. He'd already told her that Drago had been the one to destroy the trust that his people had with the outside world so why was he elaborating?

"Most children of Natt og Dag have two sets of parents. A human mother and father, and a dragon mother and father. Because of that children are raised to have both human and dragon siblings." Havardr slowly reached under his shirt and pulled out a small nadder spike. "My sister and I were two of the children that Drago had kidnapped...In the effort to free us one of the Royal guard and a Night fury attacked Drago."

Havardr fingered the spike in his hands. "The fight went badly. He knocked out the human guard and killed the night fury. Before he did though the guard had been able to free the hostages. My sister though...Drago had broken her legs when he'd captured us. We couldn't get away."

Slowly Havardr put the spike away. "I refused to leave my sister behind and because of that I was there to watch Drago as he took my sister and broke her neck. I was there when he killed the night fury and proclaimed how he would wear his hide as a cloak. I was there when he drove a sword into my mother's heart." Havardr opened his eyes then and Star could see the unshed tears glimmering. "When I was old enough I joined the Royal guard in order to protect my people from outsiders. When your egg was laid I was the first to be selected to be your future protector."

Havardr stood up and his knees popped softly from the movement. "I swore I would never let another dragon die because of an outsider. When you were kidnapped I felt the pain of my sister's death all over again and I knew I had to find you...to save you. When I finally found you, after so many years, I didn't know what the people of Berk would do to you if they knew the truth." He let out a long sigh and held up a hand to keep Star from saying anything. "Maybe I made a mistake by taking you, but I wasn't going to risk your life."

He went over to the cage and pulled out his key to unlock the door. "If, after we get to Natt og Dag and you speak to the elders, you still want to return to Berk...I'll escort you." He clenched his mouth shut as he opened the door to her cage. "I just ask that you wait."

With that Havardr backed away and went up the stairs to the deck once more.

Star hesitantly stepped out of her cage and looked around. She had a better understanding as to why Havardr didn't trust outsiders, but she didn't think she could forgive him for taking her away from her home. She knew what it was like to lose a sister though and she could at least feel sorry for him.

She was silent as she went over to her mother and curled up around the stool that Elizabeth was sitting on. Star would go with them to Natt og Dag, but she was determined to return to Toothless no matter what.

* * *

><p>AN:

I'm not...actually that happy with this chapter. I've written it several times and this is probably the best version I have. I wanted this chapter to be about Havardr opening up to Star about why he's so distrustful towards outsiders without blowing up and losing his temper again.

I'll probably end up rewriting this chapter again later after I get the next chapters up.


	13. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Nope don't own it.

Chapter 12: The Journey

Previously:

He went over to the cage and pulled out his key to unlock the door. "If, after we get to Natt og Dag and you speak to the elders, you still want to return to Berk...I'll escort you." He clenched his mouth shut as he opened the door to her cage. "I just ask that you wait."

With that Havardr backed away and went up the stairs to the deck once more.

Star hesitantly stepped out of her cage and looked around. She had a better understanding as to why Havardr didn't trust outsiders, but she didn't think she could forgive him for taking her away from her home. She knew what it was like to lose a sister though and she could at least feel sorry for him.

She was silent as she went over to her mother and curled up around the stool that Elizabeth was sitting on. Star would go with them to Natt og Dag, but she was determined to return to Toothless no matter what.

* * *

><p>The meeting in the Great Hall didn't last as long as Hiccup had thought it would. Astrid hadn't been lying when she'd told him that most of the village had volunteered to go with him to save Morning Star. All he really had to do was choose from the people Astrid had already selected.<p>

At the end of the meeting Hiccup had a total of 30 people including himself, his mother, Astrid, Eret, Gustav, and the twins. The only reason he'd agreed to take the twins was because he knew they'd destroy the village if they were left. It was better to direct their chaos towards the enemy then let them go crazy while he was away.

"I want two dragons each pulling a ship at a time." Hiccup said as he and those he'd designated the leaders of each ship made their way down to the docks. "The kidnappers should only have a couple days head start so if we're lucky we'll catch up." With dragons pulling their ships they'd make great time.

"And what if we're not lucky Hiccup?" Valka asked worriedly.

Hiccup paused for a moment. "Then we follow the map Johan gave us to their island." If they couldn't catch up with the kidnappers then they would cut the kidnappers off.

Orders were distributed amongst the ships and within the hour the supplies were accounted for and the crews were boarded. The last thing to be done was to get the prisoner onto Hiccup's vessel.

Escorted by at least a dozen guards, as well as several angry dragons, the stranger was led on a chain leash to the docks. "What are you going to do with me then?" The stranger asked Hiccup as he was brought up onto the boat.

Hiccup stared at the man and then looked over at the hissing and growling Toothless. "You'll be locked up below deck for now. If you're cooperative we might let you go."

"_I don't like that idea!"_ Toothless said with a much louder growl. "_He and his people took my Star! He needs to be punished!" _

The man looked down at his feet and closed his eyes as Toothless growled louder at him. Hiccup motioned for the guards to drag the man below deck. "You know bud, we can't just kill everyone because they kidnapped Star."

Toothless scoffed and looked out at the sea. "_Sure we can."_ He mumbled irritably. The people that took Star needed to be punished and he intended to make sure they did.

"_Come on." _Toothless looked from the sea, to his saddle, and then up at Hiccup. "_Let's get flying." _

Hiccup nodded to his dragon when Toothless indicated he wanted to fly. "Send up a blast so the other ships know we're going." Hiccup said as he climbed up onto Toothless's saddle.

Toothless lifted his head up and fired a single plasma blast high up into the air. The lead dragons on the other ships also fired off their blasts in response. With a nod from his rider Toothless grabbed one of the lead ropes and jumped into the air. A second dragon on the ship followed after him and the two of them began pulling the ship through the water.

The other ships soon followed after them and Hiccup looked back at them to confirm that the lead dragons flying were Cloudjumper, Stormfly, and Skullcrusher. "We'll get Star back." Hiccup told Toothless as he leaned forward again. "I promise bud."

* * *

><p>For the rest of the day Havardr was nervous about what Star would do. Even though her wings were bound Havardr was worried that the white night fury might try to jump into the water and swim. Swimming was similar to flying for a dragon and without her wings she would have trouble staying above the waves.<p>

His worries were for naught though as Star didn't even come above deck until her mother ventured out that evening. He watched as first Elizabeth came up onto the main deck followed quickly by the white night fury. She stayed close to the older woman; her head low and her eyes scanning the people above deck skeptically. She looked like she was afraid she would be attacked at any moment and Havardr could not blame her; after all these were the men that had trapped, bound, and caged her.

"I thought some fresh air would be good for Morning Star." Elizabeth said as the two of them walked over to Havardr where he was leaning against the wall of the deck. He stood up quickly to greet them which made Elizabeth smile. "She wouldn't come up without me though."

Morning Star nervously looked around as she kept her mother between her and the many strangers that were now looking her way. Most of them looked at her with awe or shock and a few looked at her as if to measure her. She didn't like having so many people looking at her. _"Make them stop."_ Star whispered as her ears pressed back against her head.

Havardr knew Star hadn't been speaking to him, but he did look over at the people that were staring at her. "Don't you men have things to do?" He said very loudly which made several of the younger sailors jump. The crew quickly went back to work with only a few cautious glances over at Star.

Star let out a sigh of relief when she was no longer the obvious center of attention. She knew there were a few people still watching her, but at least she didn't notice it so easily.

"You're important to our people's culture back home Star; they're going to stare." Star looked up quickly when Havardr spoke. He'd turned to look out at the ocean. "You're the dragon queen of Natt og Dag; even if you haven't been there since you were a baby."

Star shook her head at that and then looked down at her paws. How could she be something like that when she didn't even want to be? She didn't want to be important at all; she just wanted to go back to Berk and live her life with Toothless. _"Do I have any say in all of this?"_ She asked with a huff and a soft growl.

Havardr shook his head before looking out of the corner of his eye at the white dragon. "Not particularly. It's a role you were born into Morning Star. You can't change the color of your scales."

Star huffed again and sulked as she looked down into the water. She was silent for a few minutes before Havardr heard her speak very softly.

"_I just want to be with Toothless…"_

* * *

><p>Days passed and before anyone knew it the Vikings of Berk and their dragons had been at sea for over a week. Their prisoner was confident that the fleet was traveling in the right direction and if it weren't for Skullcrusher admitting that he had picked up Star's scent again Toothless would have mauled the man.<p>

"I don't understand." Hiccup mumbled as he leaned over the table with the map. "We should have caught up by now." The Berk fleet had dragons pulling the ships which meant they were going several times faster than normal.

The Berk chief poured over the map that Johann had given them. Having spent years learning how to map and how to read maps Hiccup was confident in his calculations.

"Bring me the prisoner." Hiccup called out of the cabin towards one of the Vikings standing guard on deck. Within minutes of his order the chained man was brought to him.

Toothless, who had been laying silently on the floor next to Hiccup growled at the sight of the chained man.

"You have questions?" The man asked as he was pushed into the cabin.

Hiccup tapped the map and glared at the man. "We should have caught up with the kidnappers by now. Why haven't we?"

The man shifted on his feet and let out a small sigh. "You're not the only ones with access to dragons."

Toothless growled and rolled his eyes. "_We already know your people have dragons." _

Hiccup crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the man until he continued to explain.

"Havardr has dragons pulling his fleet as well. You…" The prisoner looked away and down at his feet for a moment. "You won't catch up until you reach our home."

The Berk Chief cursed and slammed his hands down on the table. He glared down at the map as his mind worked. He should have known that Havardr would use dragons; why hadn't he thought of that? One of the first things Hiccup had done was organize the dragons to pull the fleet.

If what the prisoner said was true then they needed to start preparing for when they made it to Havardr's home. Hiccup was smart enough to know that he and his Vikings were at a disadvantage here; so they would need to be diplomatic.

"You-" Hiccup pointed a finger at the prisoner. "Are going to tell me everything I need to know about this place." He pressed his finger against the island on the map that they were headed towards. "And about what we're walking into."

The chained man hung his head, but he nodded slowly. "I'll tell you what I can." He said with a sigh. "Anything to avoid bloodshed."

"Let's start with your name." Hiccup said as he motioned for someone to pull over a chair for the man. It had been a week and no one had even tried to learn the man's name.

"My name is Mason." The chained man said slowly. "Just Mason." Mason hesitated a moment before speaking up. "You were smart to bring your dragons along."

Hiccup sat down and leaned back in his chair. "And why is that?"

Mason let out a slow sigh. "Because only a dragon can navigate through the barriers, traps, and obstructions my people have placed around our island."

Hiccup leaned forward slowly and he braced his elbows against the table. "Tell me more."

* * *

><p>"<em>9 days."<em> Star mumbled to herself as she stared down into the blue waters of the sea bellow. "_I've been on this blasted boat for 9 days."_ She moved her gaze from the ocean to Havardr who was standing only a few feet from her.

Havardr was fiddling with a knife in one hand and a piece of wood in the other. "We'll be passing through the barrier protecting the island's waters sometime today." He said without even looking at her. "We'll make it to port either tonight or tomorrow morning. You'll be able to stretch your wings then."

To be honest Havardr had removed the metal bindings keeping her wings clamped to her sides a couple days ago when the heat in the air had become so hot that the metal had started rubbing Star's scales raw.

Having grown up in the cold north the heat that had been building up for the past several days had become unbearable for the white night fury. She'd watched jealously has the crew of the ship stripped out of their outer clothes to be more comfortable in the heat. Even Havardr was shirtless and she hated him for it.

"_Why is it so hot?"_ Star whined for the hundredth time that morning. "_The sun is barely up and already I feel like I'm melting."_

Havardr chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "It's not the heat that's getting to you Star; it's the humidity." He reached up with his left hand to wipe sweat from his forehead. "If the air wasn't so thick with moisture the heat wouldn't be so bad."

Star grumbled irritably as she put her head back down on the railing of the ship. "_Well whatever it is it's making me too hot." _She had found yet another reason why she should return to Berk.

"You're just not used to it yet." Havardr said as he turned the block of wood around in his right hand. He'd only just started working on it. "It's even worse for the dark night furies you know." He flicked the blade of his knife over the wood, sending a curled wood shaving onto the deck. "It's why night furies are nocturnal; to avoid the heat of the day."

"_Don't care."_ Star hated how hot she was and how the humans could just shed layers in order to cool down.

"You're starting to sound like a brat again." Havardr said with a frown as he glanced over at the miserable female.

Star rolled her eyes before glaring at the man through the corner of her eye. "_Does it look like I care?" _

Havardr chuckled a little. "No I suppose not."

Over the last few days he and Star had slowly built up a relationship that wasn't just anger and distaste for each other. The two of them could at least talk to each other and pretend to be decent to each other.

"Star…when was the last time you drank some water?" Havardr asked suddenly as he got a closer look at the white female. It wasn't that she looked hot; she looked limp and fatigued.

Star shrugged her shoulders a bit at Havardr's question.

Havardr huffed and sheathed his knife. "You're not used to this much heat Star. If you don't drink enough water you can make yourself sick." With that he went over to a bucket and went below deck to the water barrels. Within minutes he was back setting the filled bucket next to the grumbling white night fury. "Drink you stubborn creature."

Star was about to bite out a response when she held her tongue. She knew that Havardr's next step would be to go fetch her mother to make her behave and Star didn't want him to do that. Her mother was elderly and being at sea, especially in this heat, was hard on Elizabeth's health.

Not wanting Havardr to disturb her mother's rest Star drank from the bucket until there was nothing left. She tipped over the empty bucket before flopping back down on her stomach.

Havardr righted the bucket before it could roll too far and get under foot. "Brat." He mumbled before pulling out his knife again to work at his carving.

_"Jerk."_ Star mumbled back almost absent mindedly.

Silence fell between Star and Havardr with the only sounds of the waves crashing against the side of the ship and Havardr's carving knife scraping against the wood in his hand breaking the silence.

Star was starting to fall asleep when the ship suddenly tilted to one side making her slide a few feet before the ship stopped tilting. She stood up and looked to the side the ship had been tilting only to squeak in surprise.

There, leaning against the opposite side of the ship, was a rather large, long necked, blue serpent like creature.

"Ah! Rivera!" Havardr smiled as the long necked dragon swiveled it's serpent like face to look at him. "It's good to see you again."

_"Is this her then?"_ Star was surprised by the sultry voice that came from the serpent like dragon.

With the dragon putting all of its attention on Star she was able to get a better look at the strange sea dragon.

Star's first impression of the dragon's head being completely smooth was wrong. Although the snout started off smooth small horns and spines started growing at the eyebrows. The spines along the back of the dragons' head had frills and webbing attached to each spine and horn. The dragon's blue scales had a slimy look to them that glittered in the sunlight. The one thing that really caught Star's attention and held her gaze, was the dragon's pitch black eyes.

"Morning Star, meet Rivera. Rivera, this is Morning Star." Havardr said waving a hand back and forth between the two dragons. "Rivera is one of the guardians of Natt og Dag. She creates water spots and whirlpools whenever a ship without dragons comes along."

"_It is an honor to meet you Morning Star_." Rivera bowed her head in respect before turning her black eyes to Havardr. "_I came to tell you there are three ships a few days behind you." _

Havardr scowled worriedly. With how Star's ears perked up he knew she'd come to the same conclusion he had; they were Berkian ships.

"_They are currently out of my territory so I cannot do anything about them. There are dragons pulling the ships." _Rivera paused to let Havardr think for a moment. "_Shall I sink them when they come into my waters?"_

_"NO!" _Star yelled desperately. "_Havardr! If anything happens to them I swear I'll…I'll-" _She didn't even know what she could do to threaten Havardr. He'd already kidnapped her, she had no choice in going to Natt og Dag, and she would need him if she ever wanted to get back to Berk.

Havardr sighed and shook his head. "Don't harm the ships Rivera. When they come into our waters escort them to the island." Toothless would probably be on one of those ships and the Elders would want to speak to him.

"Oh! And Rivera," Havardr spoke up just as the blue serpent dragon was slipping back into the water. "Don't let them know about you."

Rivera nodded and then fully submerged back into the water.

Star looked at Havardr for a few minutes. _"Why did you tell her not to let them know about her?"_

For a moment Havardr didn't say anything. "For her protection." Het let out a small sigh. "And to avoid any more misunderstandings."

* * *

><p>AN: Well here we go. Chapter 12. Meh.

In other news we have the winners of the contest I held back in August! Congrats to: DustySands and ShadeTNL over on Deviantart! You will be meeting their characters in the upcoming chapters!

Do you want your characters in this story? Draw some fanart and send it over to me on Deviantart (link is in my FF profile). It's not guaranteed that your character will make it into the story, but you have a good chance too.


	14. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD in any way shape or form. I do own my original characters.

Night and Day

Chapter 13:

As much as Toothless tried to pull the ship as fast as he could Hiccup did make him rest from time to time. There were other dragons that could pull the ship instead of him, but Toothless was convinced none of them were as fast as or as strong as he was. They needed to save Star and that meant Toothless taking the lead.

"I know you miss her bud." Hiccup said softly as he gently rubbed at Toothless's head. He'd had to take off Toothless's automatic tailfin after the stubborn night fury had ignored Hiccup's orders for the hundredth time. "We'll get her back."

_"Before or after I kill the ones that took her?"_ Toothless mumbled more to himself before pulling away from Hiccup to go back to pacing the deck of the ship.

Hiccup sighed softly and shook his head. There was nothing he could do to comfort his upset night fury friend. Their prisoner had given them as much information as he could about the traps and other deceptions that they would come across.

Even with the information Mason had given them Hiccup was nervous. They should have passed by the first obstacle yesterday, but instead it'd been nothing but clearing sailing. The fog bank that Mason had warned them of had vanished as soon as their fleet had come up to it.

"Bring me the prisoner." Hiccup commanded as he pulled out his spy glass. He spotted a few islands here and there, small sandy spots or outcroppings of rocks, but otherwise he didn't see anything of concern.

Soon enough Mason was with Hiccup on the deck of the ship. The man had been cleaned up and his arm had been taken care of after he had agreed to cooperate.

"Well?" Hiccup asked as he handed the spy glass to the prisoner. He watched impassively as Mason lifted the tool to his eye to look out at the calm sea. Hiccup noticed the subtle twitch of Mason's head as if he could hear something.

Mason handed the spy glass back. "You're expected." He said simply. "The traps have been removed. The dragon sentries that are used to confuse outsiders and sink ships aren't at their posts." To Mason that meant Havardr had arrived with Star. The white night fury would have argued for the safety of the Berkians; that was the only reason Berk's fleet hadn't been turned around or sunk yet.

Hiccup thought about this for a moment before nodding his head. "Send a message to the other ships," He said as he walked over to the person holding a terrible terror. "No attacking unless provoked. Be wary, but unless there are obvious signs of aggression I don't want anyone to engage in combat."

An angry grumble from Toothless made Hiccup sigh and shake his head. "They're not attacking us Toothless. If we attack them who knows what they'll do?" He was trying to get Toothless to see reason. "They might keep us from Star if we're hostile."

Toothless snorted at that. _"I'd like to see them try."_ Toothless stormed over to Mason and glared silently at him for a minute before turning to head below deck.

When Toothless was gone Hiccup let out the breath he'd been holding. "So..." He took a drink from the water skin that he'd taken to keeping with him. "Is it always this hot around here?"

Mason tried to keep from smirking at that. "Yes, but locals don't notice." He took the offered water and took a hearty swig. "You're used to the freezing cold; I'm surprised more of your people aren't sick from the heat."

When they'd first noticed the heat Hiccup had gone to Mason to find out what they could do. Even though the man was their prisoner Hiccup knew his information and experience would be useful. "You told us to drink water regularly and to stay out of the sun as much as possible, so that's what we're doing."

Silence stretched between captor and captive and it gave Mason a chance to shuffle over to the railing of the ship to look down into the water. He could hear the soft voice of Rivera from the depths and it relaxed him. He knew the water dragon was down there subtly guiding the ships towards home.

"We should arrive in a day." Mason commented as he looked up at the sky to figure out the time. "The port isn't big enough for your ships, so you'll either need to fly in on your dragons or row in on one or your smaller boats."

Hiccup nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. "And what would you suggest?"

Mason shrugged and looked at one of the dragons pulling the ship. "Fly in. Seeing you on good terms with your own dragons will put my people at ease."

* * *

><p>The second the port came into view Star had retreated below deck. Both Havardr and her mother had assured her she would be safe, but this was a new place she'd been brought to against her will; she didn't trust these strangers. The stares she'd been getting from the sailors were bad enough; what would the people on land do? She hated being stared at and it'd taken a long time to get used to the people of Berk staring at her.<p>

"Come on Star, everything will be fine." Havardr insisted as he tried to coax the white dragon out of a corner behind some barrels.

Star looked out over the barrels and stuck her tongue out at him. _"You can't make me!"_ Her statement was true enough. With all the bindings removed from her Havardr couldn't physically move her. _"I'm staying right here until we go back to Berk." _

Havardr sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Seriously? You haven't even seen the place! I said I would take you back after you at least met with the elders." He couldn't believe how stubborn Star was being. "Stop being a spoiled brat and get into the landing boat." He had to quickly dodge when suddenly a barrel was sent flying at his head. "Oh! You've asked for it now!"

Before Star had time to react there was suddenly a very heavy presence on her back. She swung her head around and her eyes went wide when she found Havardr on her back. _"Get OFF!" _She cried out in a panic as she began bucking and twisting around to get Havardr off her back. "_No one rides ME!"_

Havardr hung on for dear life as the white night fury female began flailing around and ramming into the walls to try and dislodge him. Star ran up the stairs and spread her wings on deck to give herself more room to try and flip Havardr off of her. He didn't quite understand why Star was struggling so much or why she was so adamant about not letting anyone ride her, but at least his tactic had gotten Star out from hiding.

"_Off, Off, OFF!" _Star demanded over and over as she angrily jumped into the air to fly several feet up. She spun once she was in the air and dove into the water. Star could feel Havardr hanging onto her tighter as she shot through the water and then back into the air. Star roared and pushed herself to go as fast as possible as she rose higher and higher into the air.

Once she was high up into the air Star could feel herself starting to relax. Joy blossomed in her chest at the feeling of her wings fully stretched and pumping. She didn't even care that Havardr was on her back as she tucked in her wings and fell for a few minutes before stretching her wings out again to catch the air. The warmth in the air helped to lift her back up after her free fall and it was all she could do not to just dive again.

"I'm gonna be sick." Havardr mumbled as he fought to keep his stomach still. He'd only ridden on dragons a few times; not many of his people rode dragons seriously and Havardr had never been one of them. He hadn't been expecting Star to perform so many aerial tricks the second she was in the air again.

"_Not on me you're not." _Havardr's threat reminded Star that she did in fact have a stow away on her back. "_Just hold on."_ She told him before she changed her direction towards land. As much as she wanted to just fly north she knew Berk would be too far for her to fly on her own.

Star glanced around at the port as she approached land and she winced. Her little display had attracted a great deal of attention and now there were a whole lot of people waiting at the docks and looking up at her. There was enough room made for her to land, but she didn't want to land with so many people around. Instead Star made a beeline for the sandy shore not to far from the docks. Luckily the beach wasn't nearly as crowded.

She landed with a strong gust of wind that knocked up the sand beneath her, but it helped to keep the few people that were around back. "_Off."_ Star told Havardr one last time as she held still for him.

Havardr was off of Star's back in record time. He ended up on his knees as he took deep breaths to calm both his stomach and his nerves. He glanced up when a shadow loomed over him and found himself looking up at the narrowed eyes of a very angry white night fury.

_"No one rides me." _Star told Havardr darkly with her teeth bared. _"I don't care who you are or how important you think you are, I am not to be ridden."_ With that said Star blew a hot gust of breath at Havardr through her nose and then turned to look at the approaching people.

"_Take care of that. Before I take off again."_ The white night fury warned the man who was using her side to stand back up. She was not in the mood to be compromising at the moment and if taking on a position of authority meant she would be left alone then she'd take it.

Star would never describe herself as skittish, she just hated being the center of attention around strangers. Strangers were difficult to predict and she never knew what might happen. When she'd first gotten big enough to ride, people had randomly tried to climb up onto her back; which was probably why she didn't like having people on her back to begin with.

Havardr sighed a little and nodded. He raised his hand up to greet the oncoming people and then stepped in front of Star so he could address them. His words were quick and to the point as he asked the crowd to disperse.

The crowd of people didn't want to leave, not when the white night fury that they'd been waiting to see again for years was finally returned to them, but eventually city guards arrived to help persuade the throng of people.

In the time it took for the guards to get the onlookers to go away Star had made her way to the ocean water and had happily waded into the shallows.

The water was a lot warmer then Star was used too, but it felt good to work at the grime that had built up along her scales while she'd been at sea. It felt good to roll onto her back and scratch at the scales along her spine using the wet sand. After a few minutes of splashing and cleaning herself Star rolled onto her stomach and looked out at the open ocean. Her eyes misted over as her thoughts reached out towards Berk and Toothless.

"Star?" A voice interrupted her silent meditation and her white head turned and her plates lifted up. Havardr stood there with his hands clasped behind him and there were a few armored men standing a few feet behind him. "It's time to go."

Morning Star looked back at ocean for a moment more, her eyes filled with longing before she let out a small sigh and stood up. Her scales glistened with droplets of salt water and sand. She waited until she was out of the water and standing next to Havardr before she shook herself to assist in the drying process. As she had planned the water that had been clinging to her was now all over Havardr.

Havardr bit his tongue to keep from saying anything, but his look of irritation was all Star needed. _"The drowned rat look suits you."_ Star mumbled with a smirk before going past Havardr to head towards the docks were the small landing boat was currently being tied off. Her mother was being helped onto the docks and Star wanted to make sure the elderly woman was alright.

"Sir?" of the four guards currently standing behind Havardr three followed after Morning Star to make sure no one got to close to the white night fury. The fourth stayed behind to help Havardr.

The soaked man took a deep steadying breath before chuckling. "The elders are going to have their hands full with her." He reached up to get his dripping bangs out of his face. "Have the flight escort ready to take Morning Star to the nest. She's going to want to meet with the elders as soon as possible."

The guard nodded and went off to go and get the dragons paired with the guards ready for flight.

With a quick glance at the sky as he walked back to the docks Havardr confirmed that most of the dragons between here and the nest had been grounded to show respect to the returned white night fury.

"_Mother if you're not feeling well you can ride on my back._" Havardr heard Star offering once he returned to the group. He eyed her careful to see if she'd timed that particular offer with his arrival, but she seemed genuinely concerned for her human mother. Seeing as how the elderly woman couldn't understand Star one of the guards that was able to translated.

Elizabeth smiled in relief, but she shook her head. "That's sweet of you dear, but I'm going to go by cart. Flying doesn't suit me very well."

The group waited, since Star insisted, until Elizabeth was on her way before the first dragon guards lifted up into the air.

"I thought no one rode you?" Havardr teased before being helped up onto the last dragon guard on the ground. He made a rather bland face at the prospect of flying again, but it was the fastest way to get to the nest.

Star spread her wings and bolted into the air faster then the nadder that Havardr was currently on. "_My mother isn't just anyone." _she replied with a dignified sniff. In her mind Star figured if she offered rides to people then they wouldn't be actually riding her like people did other dragons. When a person _rode _a dragon then that person had most of the control; Star refused to give control of herself to another person.

Seeing as how Star had no idea where she was supposed to go Havardr, riding on a nadder, took the lead while the other guards flew in a loose circle around Morning Star.

She found having an escort curious. Where they afraid she'd make a break for it despite the fact she'd have nowhere to go? Or perhaps there were people around that didn't want her there and the escort was for her protection.

A part of Star was tempted to dash ahead of her escort, she knew she'd be able to outpace them easily even with her bad wing, but she held back. She'd already had one outburst and she didn't need these people distrusting her.

_"So where are we going?"_ Star asked to no one in particular. It was one of the dragon guards to her side that replied.

The hobblegrunt, whose scales were a mix of yellow and purple at the moment, got as close to Star as he could as they flew. _"We're heading for the nest," _His scales shifted more to the yellow. _"The elders are waiting for you." _

Maybe it was because of the hobblegrunt, but Star felt a sense of calm wash over her as they flew. With a flick of the hobblegrunt's head Star looked forward towards the largest mountain on the island. She could see various dragons flying around the mountain only to land the closer she and her escort got. With her sharp eyes she could see many of the dragons perching on ledges and at the entrances of many caves to watch her approach.

Star felt nervous again as she realized there were a lot of dragons around the mountain just watching. This was as bad as back at the docks with all those humans watching her! She hated being the center of attention and here all these dragons were focused on her.

_"Calm yourself," _Again Star felt calm seeping into her mind as the hobblegrunt spoke. "_They are just excited to see you returned to us."_ he gave her a lopsided smirk which Star returned shyly. "_They will not approach you until you're ready."_

That reassurance helped to settle Star's nerves. As long as she wasn't crowded Star would be fine; for the time being at least. She took a deep breath and then another as she and her escort flew lower to align with a large cave entrance with carefully carved arches. Sitting at the center of the arches was a single night fury.

Star felt a jolt as she recognized the type of dragon and for a brief moment she hoped it was Toothless. Her hopes were dashed though when they landed and she took a closer look at the night fury greeter.

The night furies scales were a deep blue instead of black and he had red markings that stood out from his blue scales around his eyes. Although one of his eyes was a rich crimson color the other was dulled to grey with a harsh scar going across it. As they got closer Star was acutely aware of the fact that this night fury was bigger in size compared to Toothless; which meant he was even larger then she was.

"_The elders are waiting."_ The dark blue night fury with the red markings and one good eye stated as he stood up and turned to lead the way into the mountain. "_I've been assigned as your personal guard here on the island. I'm Shade." _

Star stood there in shock as Shade waited for her to follow after him. Other then Toothless she'd never seen another night fury before and truth be told Morning Star hadn't completely trusted Havardr when the man had told her that there were other night furies here on the island.

Slowly, just in case this was a trick, Star walked up to Shade. She kept her body low the closer she got to the other night fury. He watched her with interest, his ear plates up in curiosity. He held still even as Star reached out to touch his leg with one of her paws.

Quickly Star pulled her paw away after the light touch and her own ear plates came up when she heard a light chuckling. She stood up straight, her ears coming back down in irritation, when she realized Shade was laughing at her!

"_I'm very real."_

Star snorted at that and held her head up high before walking forward past Shade into the mountain.

Shade waited a moment as he watched the white night fury go. She reminded him of a hatchling with her antics. "_You coming?" _Shade asked behind him towards the guards and Havardr.

Havardr groaned and nodded. He was still recovering from his second flight of the day. "Go on ahead; I'll catch up." The man could not understand how the human guards could stand flying so much on their partnered dragons.

The dark blue night fury nodded and went on ahead to catch up with Star before she got too far ahead and ended up lost in the labyrinth that was the nest.

* * *

><p>AN: FFFFFFFFFFFFF- I am so sorry it took a year to write this horrible chapter. It's trash. I know it, but it's the best I could get out. I even changed the fricking plot just to get this chapter out (not by much, but enough to actually write).

Acknowledgements!

I held a fanart contest last year and the winners got to enter their characters into the story. The winner? Nixxon Mysterio with his night fury Shade! Thank you for participating and I hope I do your character justice in the future. If anything doesn't work just tell me and I'll make changes.

Hailey: Thank you very much for the inspiration.

Thanks to yessboss21, Edward James Kenway, peinisimo, lexielue10, SoNevable, Luna Silveria, gmjngvkh, and the many others, guests, and anons for continuing to review and encouraging me to post an udpate!


	15. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD in any way shape or form. I do own my original characters.

Night and Day

Chapter 14

Previously:

Quickly Star pulled her paw away after the light touch and her own ear plates came up when she heard a light chuckling. She stood up straight, her ears coming back down in irritation, when she realized Shade was laughing at her!

"_I'm very real."_

Star snorted at that and held her head up high before walking forward past Shade into the mountain.

Shade waited a moment as he watched the white night fury go. She reminded him of a hatchling with her antics. "_You coming?" _Shade asked behind him towards the guards and Havardr.

Havardr groaned and nodded. He was still recovering from his second flight of the day. "Go on ahead; I'll catch up." The man could not understand how the human guards could stand flying so much on their partnered dragons.

The dark blue night fury nodded and went on ahead to catch up with Star before she got too far ahead and ended up lost in the labyrinth that was the nest.

* * *

><p>For the most part Shade and Star walked in silence. Star could hear distant whispers from other dragons bouncing off the walls of the tunnels that branched off from the one that Shade was leading her down.<p>

_"So..."_ Star cleared her throat to try and break the silence. She had no idea what to talk about though and the single word was left hanging in the air.

Shade sighed softly and shook his head at how awkward the younger night fury seemed to be. "_After you meet with the elders I'll give you a tour."_ He offered up as a conversation starter. "_The tunnels and caves in the nest are pretty extensive and unless you know where you're going it's easy to get lost."_

Star nodded and built up the courage to say something. "_Are there a lot of night furies here?" _Despite the living proof that Havardr had been telling the truth Star still hesitated to fully trust him.

"_Quite a few."_ Shade let out a chuckle and grinned at Star. "_There haven't been many eggs recently, but there's still close to a hundred night furies in residence." _

The white night fury froze and looked at Shade in surprise. A hundred night furies was way more then just a 'few'.

"_There are more scattered around the island and on neighboring islands."_ Shade went on to explain as he waited for Star to continue walking. "_But the nest has the largest population." _It would considering that the nest was where the White night fury usually resided.

"_That's-"_ Star couldn't fathom so many night furies. She and Toothless had thought for years that they were the only ones alive, but here was Shade changing her entire perspective. She wondered what Toothless would think when he found out about all the night furies.

Shade chuckled and used his tail to bat at Star to get her moving again. "_It's a lot to take in, I know." _He could remember when he'd first arrived on the island of Night and Day; it'd been quite a shock to find so many night furies in one place.

Hesitantly Star began asking Shade questions as the two of them walked. Her questions weren't just about the night furies on the island, but also about the island itself. Havardr had told her some things, as much as she'd been willing to hear, but for the most part the island was a mystery to Morning Star.

"_Here we are."_ Shade said once he and Star stood before a large pair of solid wood doors. At least they looked like wood but when Star reached out to nudge at them with her paw they felt like stone. "_Don't worry about the elders too much."_ Shade told her with a grin. "_For the most part the elders are big softies."_

Star nodded at Shade and then pushed the door open the rest of the way so she could walk inside. Shade had already told her that he had to wait outside the cave while she spoke with the elders.

The white night fury hadn't known what to expect past the large doors. The room was a combination of carved and natural structures and at the back was a shaft leading down into the mountain. A glowing from deep within the shaft flickered and shifted constantly and Star could hear a soft rumbling sound echoing from the shaft itself. At the center of the large room was a fire pit that had a bright and warm fire crackling within. Around the fire sat 6 different shapes each on a slab of stone carefully carved and smoothed from generations of use. There was one slab at the center of the semi circle of 6 that was empty.

_"It is an honor to finally meet you young one."_ Star's head swung around to stare at one of the 6 shapes that stood up to greet her. She watched nervously as the oldest night fury she'd ever seen walked over to her. There was a warmth in his yellow eyes that put Star at ease. "_We apologize for the method of your arrival. But it was necessary."_ The night fury's voice was aged and raspy as if speaking was difficult.

"_Yeah about that,"_ Suddenly Star felt her earlier anger rise back up to push aside the calm she'd just started to feel. "_Kidnapping was the worst way to get me here!" _She glared at the elder night fury and then at the other 5 elders that sat around the fire. The smallest of the elders was a human man that was staring at the fire rather then at Star.

_"Impertinent hatchling."_ Star glanced over at the monstrous nightmare that shifted stiffly on his stone slab. "_Probably doesn't even care we've been trying to rescue her for years."_

"_Shush Wildfire." _The female pricklebogge whispered quickly. She stood and went over to monstrous nightmare to help the stiffness in his joints dissipate. Her pale green were tinged with silver and one of her horns was broken. "_The young one has a point. We should not have kidnapped her from her home."_

One of the two larger shapes finally uncurled from it's position and it glanced over at Star. It's once jewel like hide was dull and covered with gashes and scratches. The dragon was a proud rumblehorn who's sight was almost completely gone from age. "_Come closer hatchling so that I may see you."_

Morning Star felt a moment of rebellion surge through her and she was tempted to just sit where she was standing. The gentle gleam in the nearly sightless eyes of the rumblehorn made her breath catch in her throat and she found herself moving closer to the elderly rumblehorn.

The rumblehorn's snout came down and he gently touched it to the top of Star's head. He took a deep breath and his eyes took in Star's white scales as they shone in the fire light. By just her scent he knew that this was the lost hatchling they'd been desperately searching for for the last decade.

"_It's her yes?"_ The final elder spoke up at last. A moldruffle, his orange scales nearly white from his age, trundled down from his slab to go over to Star. He looked her over curiously then cooed happily. "_She's rather small yes?"_

Star's ears came up in indignation at the size comment. "_I am not small!" _She growled softly and took a step away from the rumblehorn. "_Tell me why I'm here so I can refuse and return to my home."_

That demand made several of the elder dragons laugh and chuckle. The monstrous nightmare made comments about how rude she was and how if she'd been his descendant he would have taught her proper manners. The only two that didn't say anything or seemed to be effected by her words were the night fury and the human. The human hadn't even moved and Star was starting to wonder if he was even alive.

"_I do not know what Guardian Havardr has told you," _The prickleboggle female said softly as she moved closer to the fire. The red spots on her scales stood out starkly against the pale green of her body. _"__But you are too important to the island to just let you leave."_ She actually sounded apologetic as the words left her. "_The death of your mother has left the entire island and its satellite islands in turmoil. No, no, you can not leave us when there is so much that needs to be done." _

"_B-but-_"

"_Young one,"_ The night fury gently touched Star's back with his wing. "_Let us explain. There is much you need to understand."_ He tried to be as comforting as he could for the young night fury, but his gentle gesture just seemed to upset her.

"_No! Let me explain!"_ Morning Star snarled as she backed away from the elders. "_Havardr said I could go home after I talked to all of you. This isn't my home! You kidnapped me, stole me, from my friends and family!" _Her teeth were out as her voice grew in volume. "_You had no right to kidnap me! My egg may have been laid here, but this place is nothing more then a prison where my kidnappers reside." _Her claws scratched into the stone floor beneath her. "_You took me from Toothless! I have to go back to him!"_ There was a desperation tinging her voice now and it was all she could do not to bolt out of the room.

The elders fell silent as Morning Star vented her anger at them.

"_There were other ways to bring me here! The people of Berk love dragons and are at peace with them!" _Her desperation turned back to rage and tears glimmered in her eyes. _"They've defended their dragons and some have even given their lives for their dragons! Both Toothless and Hiccup have fought countless enemies for the sake of peace and to protect dragons! You could have learned all of this if you'd just gotten to know them! Instead you KIDNAPPED ME from my HOME."  
><em>

_"Morning Star..."_ The elder night fury tried to approach the roaring white night fury only for a plasma blast shot at his feet to stop him.

"_Do not address me so casually!" _Her voice was icy as she moved her gaze to the elder night fury. "_You do not know me! You only assume to know me." _Hate for these elders coursed through her and it was all she could do not to blast them all and attempt an escape.

And then there was a warm human hand on Star's neck. She froze and slowly turned her head to look at whomever was touching her.

The human that had been staring at the fire silently this entire time had somehow silently moved to her side without Star's notice. He had her full attention now and it was only because of her love for her human family and friends that she didn't immediately fire upon the human elder.

The man that touched her was different from any other human she'd ever seen. His skin, wrinkled from sun and age, was the color of wet clay. His dark eyes were bottomless as she stared up into them. His long hair was a dark grey with a few darker streaks here and there and Star could not miss the feather that was braided into the strands. He didn't feel like a viking; the energy he gave off was warmer, richer, and it calmed her. Star felt something like a slow deep drumbeat through the hand connected to her neck.

"Your heart will find its home again, but first we need your help." The man's voice was thick and throaty and there was a strange accent to his words that made his words difficult to understand.

Morning Star found herself nodding at this man with his eyes as dark as Toothless' scales and skin that seemed almost impossibly brown. When he moved forward Star walked with him so that his hand wouldn't leave her scales.

"Let us tell you our tale and then when our words run dry we shall answer your questions and speak of returning you to those you hold dear." The human elder waited until Star was laid out next to the fire before starting his story.

For the most part the story that Star was told was much like the one Havardr had told her; with a few extra details that she'd been unwilling to listen too before. As the tale progressed Star learned the names of the elders. Wildfire was the monstrous nightmare, the moldruffle was called Duskhorn, and the pale green prickleboggle was Eir. The three together worked together over all domestic affairs on the island and those smaller islands nearby. The nearly blind rumblehorn gave his name as Stagger and he was in charge of the safety, security, and secrecy of the island. When it came to the human's turn to tell his name he only told Star that he was known as the Keeper of stories and that it was his job to remember the history of the island. Finally it was the elder night furies turn to reveal his identity to Star.

"_Your mother gave me the name of Tender Scales. She was the queen of all who reside on the island, but I was the alpha of the dragons. We worked together to keep the balance and peace among all the dragons and humans." _His gaze and voice were filled with sadness and longing as he spoke to Morning Star. "_I was her partner and mate in her last decades of life." _Tender Scales waited a moment for Star to absorb this information. "_I am your sire." _

_"__My...my sire..."_ Star knew what it took to bring an egg into the world; it required both a male and a female dragon to create an egg. She'd always known that she'd had a sire somewhere, just as she'd always known she'd had a mother. But Star had never thought she'd get to meet him one day. She didn't know how to feel about this dragon. Even though she now knew he was her sire, Tender Scales was still a stranger.

"Morning Star." The Keeper placed his hand on Star's neck again to pull her attention to himself. "The white night fury is more then just the queen of the nest here. She does more then give the gift of language to human children. The white night fury brings harmony and balance to the island. Her presence alone keeps nature calm and the ocean from swallowing the land." As Star stared at the human she noticed just how tired he looked; it was like a weight was pushing down on him. "The white night fury has a deep connection to nature. She is the matron and life giver of the nest. The white night fury has many burdens that she alone must carry."

The young white night fury was at a loss for words. Havardr had only told her about the 'gift' the white night fury gave to humans, not all this!

"We, the elders, have done as much as we can to keep the island safe, but there is only so much we can do." The Keeper settled down onto the ground next to Star, his hand never leaving her neck. "We will not force this life on you Morning Star, but we ask that you take time to consider how much you are needed here. Learn about the island and those that live on it. Let us awaken your sleeping power so that you will be at your full strength no matter your final choice."

Silence was all Morning Star could give the elders once their words finally died away. She had many questions, but no way to put them to words. It felt like the strength her rage and hatred had given her had dried up and Star was left feeling cold and confused. Was she really that important to the island or were the elders just trying to find ways to make her stay? The Keeper had told her that the final choice would be hers, and that little ray of hope did make Star feel better.

Tender Scales let out a small sigh and he stood slowly. "_It has been a long journey here for you. Please go with Shade for food and rest. When you are ready to ask your questions we will be here." _

All Star could do was nod and stand up. She felt the Keeper's hand slip from her neck as she turned to walk back out the door she'd entered some time ago. It felt like hours had passed since she'd first touched the stony surface of the large doors; perhaps so much time really had passed. Star found Shade napping not to far from the door and she would have walked right past him and let him sleep if she hadn't remembered his warning about the labyrinth of the nest.

"_Do you think she believes us?" _Eir asked the others worriedly once Morning Star was gone. "_Will she stay?" _

"_We need her, yes? No one else can use the magic!"_ Duskhorn looked from Tender Scales to the Keeper hoping that one of them would know the answer."

"_She is a hatchling. She will do as she is told." _Wildfire tried to sound confident, but there was a glint of worry in his eyes. White night furies were known for being strong willed and stubborn.

Tender Scales and the Keeper silently gazed into the fire as the other elders discussed things around them. "She is much like her mother, old friend." The keeper finally mumbled so that only Tender Scales could hear. "Not even the spirits know which path she'll take."

The elder night fury chuckled and gently bumped at the Keeper with his tail fins. "_Whatever happens will happen. I am just thankful to your spirits that my daughter is alive and well." _

"I told you she would be." Although the Keeper did not have the gift foresight, the spirits did whisper things to him on occasion. "What say you oh great rumblehorn?" The Keeper asked as he brought his voice to its normal volume once more. "What do you think of the young one?"

Stagger contemplated the other elders for a moment. "_She is not the one I worry about." _He grunted softly as he shifted to make himself more comfortable. "_This Toothless that she mentions...Havardr believed the two shared a deep connection." _It was the rumblehorn's duty to keep the island safe; even from itself at times. "_Reports from the outer guards tell me that strange ships being pulled by strange dragons will arrive on the morrow. One of the strange dragons is a night fury with an odd tail." _It was Stagger's belief that this strange dragon was the Toothless that Star was so desperate to get back to. It was also his belief that if the two really did share a deep connection then this Toothless would likely be in a rage when he arrived.

"_Give Star a tour of the city tomorrow." _Eir suggested. "_That way if the strangers do arrive tomorrow and one of them is this Toothless then at least he will be calmed by Morning Star's presence." _She breathed her healing breath along Wildfire's back to help ease the pain. "_Just maybe have someone other then Havardr guide her around. I worry about his safety." _

The elders came to an agreement that Morning Star would be given a tour of the city in the morning and that one of the other guards would show her around. Shade would be by her side, but he didn't have a human partner to help him.

Life on the island of Night and Day was about to get even more interesting.

* * *

><p>AN: New chapter. I am much happier with this one then the last one. Struggled a bit with Star's tantrum (totally understandable tantrum). And the Keeper, my third favorite character in this fanfic, has finally been revealed. Yes he's Native American (Haven't figured out which tribe/people yet) and he's very, very, VERY old. No one knows how old, but he's outlived most humans on the island by many years.

One thing to note is that most of the humans inhabiting Night and Day are not of Norse descent. Yes there are some, since the Norse did get pretty far, but most are descendants of American Natives. There are possibly some other European descendants as well mixed in there. The members of the 'rescue' team that went to kidnap Star were carefully selected for their lighter skin tones so that they wouldn't attract too much attention while they were so far north. Still it's hard to hide a Bermuda tan.

The different dragon races were chosen from the how to train your dragon wikia.

**Last thing!** I made some really cute Toothless earrings that I'm really proud of. They're for sale in my etsy shop if anyone is interested! Gotta get money for that health insurance and food and housing and stuff. Even if you don't buy please take a look anyway! I luvs them. Search for my shop "ChainedDragonWorks" on etsy!

Next time on Night and Day: Toothless comes damn near close to killing someone (several someones). See you there!


	16. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD.

Night and Day

Chapter 15

Previously:

Tender Scales and the Keeper silently gazed into the fire as the other elders discussed things around them. "She is much like her mother, old friend." The keeper finally mumbled so that only Tender Scales could hear. "Not even the spirits know which path she'll take."

The elder night fury chuckled and gently bumped at the Keeper with his tail fins. "_Whatever happens will happen. I am just thankful to your spirits that my daughter is alive and well." _

"I told you she would be." Although the Keeper did not have the gift foresight, the spirits did whisper things to him on occasion. "What say you oh great rumblehorn?" The Keeper asked as he brought his voice to its normal volume once more. "What do you think of the young one?"

Stagger contemplated the other elders for a moment. "_She is not the one I worry about." _He grunted softly as he shifted to make himself more comfortable. "_This Toothless that she mentions...Havardr believed the two shared a deep connection." _It was the rumblehorn's duty to keep the island safe; even from itself at times. "_Reports from the outer guards tell me that strange ships being pulled by strange dragons will arrive on the morrow. One of the strange dragons is a night fury with an odd tail." _It was Stagger's belief that this strange dragon was the Toothless that Star was so desperate to get back to. It was also his belief that if the two really did share a deep connection then this Toothless would likely be in a rage when he arrived.

"_Give Star a tour of the city tomorrow." _Eir suggested. "_That way if the strangers do arrive tomorrow and one of them is this Toothless then at least he will be calmed by Morning Star's presence." _She breathed her healing breath along Wildfire's back to help ease the pain. "_Just maybe have someone other then Havardr guide her around. I worry about his safety." _

The elders came to an agreement that Morning Star would be given a tour of the city in the morning and that one of the other guards would show her around. Shade would be by her side, but he didn't have a human partner to help him.

Life on the island of Night and Day was about to get even more interesting.

* * *

><p>"<em>Time to wake up lazy lizard."<em>

Morning Star grumbled from where she was curled up in a tight ball in the corner of the cave she'd been 'given'. It was a nice cave, if you liked caves, but it wasn't anywhere near as cozy as the room she'd shared with Toothless back on Berk. Even the speckling of crystals along the walls and cave ceiling did nothing to make Star feel better.

The normally bubbly morning dragon just wanted to roll over and go back to sleep. Night furies were normally nocturnal, a fact that Toothless tended to remind her of constantly, and Star was willing to give in to that stereotype for once.

_"I slept horribly last night."_ Her eyes were still closed even as she responded to Shade's voice at the entrance to her little cave.

Shade smiled in sympathy. He took the fact that Star was at least talking to him as a good sign and he wandered closer. "_Sorry about that, if this cave isn't to your liking I'm sure we can find someplace better for you for tonight."_

"_It's not the cave."_ Star mumbled to herself as she finally gave in and uncurled. Her wings unfurled from around her body and she looked at Shade with tired eyes. She hadn't been able to sleep because of the strangeness of her surroundings. All night she'd heard the whispers of strange dragons, noises of a foreign place, and she had felt the unnerving sensation of being watched. This place was just too strange and unfamiliar.

The male night fury waited patiently as the younger female stretched out and stood up to join him. "_Would you rather stay at your mother's cottage?"_ Even though the elders wanted Morning Star within the nest, for her protection, Shade didn't like seeing the young white so uncomfortable. He knew what it was like to be separated from his mother; he knew the pain

"_Yeah I'd like that." _

_"The elders said I could give you a tour of the human town." _Shade grinned at Star as he told her the news. "_The fishermen are out and the rest of the villagers are either busy gathering supplies or working." _With so many of the humans and dragons out of the village it would definitely be pretty deserted. The reason so many were out and busy was because they were preparing for the feast meant to welcome Star back to the island.

Star nodded silently. She did and she didn't want to see the village. It'd be interesting to see how these people lived in harmony with the dragons around them as compared to the people of Berk. Then again Star didn't want to get attached in any way to the island; she just wanted to go home to Toothless.

The white night fury was so lost in thought by the time they made it to one of the launch ledges that it took Shade bumping his head against her shoulder to get her attention.

"_You're going to walk right off the edge if you keep spacing out like that." _There was laughter in Shade's voice as he finally got Star's attention.

Star cracked a small smile for Shade and shrugged. What could she tell him? She missed home and Toothless so much that it hurt.

"_Come on lazy lizard,"_ Shade spread his wings and used the up draft to lift himself into the air a few feet. "_I'll take you to your mother's cottage first and we'll go to the village from there."_

The offer to be taken to her mother's cottage was enough of an incentive for Star to pull herself out of her gloomy state and jump from the outcropping of rock. "_You're not going to keep calling me that are you?" _Star asked as she joined Shade in the air. "_Lazy lizard I mean."_

Shade gave a throaty laugh unique to night furies. "_It's a good nickname! Prove to me you're not and I'll give you a different one."_ His red eyes twinkled in mirth as he led Star away from the nest and towards one of the small buildings between the nest and the village.

* * *

><p>Morning had come and the vikings of Berk were anxious to get to the large island just before their fleet. One dragon aboard the flagship was especially eager. Toothless pawed at the deck of the ship and small streams of smoke filtered out of his mouth as he waited anxiously for his partner to reattach the artificial tail fin.<p>

"Is there anything else we need to know?" Hiccup asked Mason as he carried the tail fin over to his friend. "We won't be shot out the sky or anything?" The Berkian chief was being completely serious.

The prisoner shook his head to the question. "As long as you're not aggressive you won't be attacked." Mason looked over at the island and his eyes narrowed as he tried to spot any patrols. "One of the guards might approach you. If that happens land and introduce yourself."

Hiccup tapped at the railing of his ship in thought. "Astrid." Quickly his wife came up to his side to hear what he had to say. "I want you, the twins, and Gustav to stay with the ships. I'll fly in with my mother and Eret." Having the primary dragon whispers flying together to an unknown island full of dragons was probably the safest thing they could do. "Mason will ride with Eret on Skullcrusher."

"_Alpha." _

Toothless turned his attention away from the island he had been glaring at with sharp eyes to look at Skullcrusher questioningly.

"_Morning Star's scent is very strong on the wind." _Skullcrusher lifted his snout a bit and took a deep breath. With how strong the smell of Star was Skullcrusher figured she had to be fairly close to the ocean.

Toothless nodded and swung his head around to look back at the island. "G_ood to know."_ He nudged at Hiccup with his tail to hurry his rider up. If the chief didn't get a move on soon Toothless would just have to swim to the island.

With his dragon's insistence Hiccup quickly attached the artificial tailfin and tested it to make sure it was alright. "Remember bud, we're going in slow and easy. We don't want them to do anything to Star because we're hostile."

A snort from the black night fury was enough of a promise for Hiccup to climb up into the saddle.

"Be careful Hiccup." Astrid told her husband quickly. Her axe was in her hand as she readied herself for anything to happen after the three dragons took off. "If anything happens here we'll send up Barf and Belch's distress signal."

"And if anything happens with us Cloudjumper will send up his." Valka put a hand against the Stormcutter's neck before using her hooked staff to pull herself up into his back.

When everyone was ready Hiccup waved for the three dragons to lift up into the air. "Easy bud." Hiccup cooed gently when Toothless pushed off with a little too much force. "We're being careful for Star's sake." He reminded the anger night fury.

"_For Star I'd lay down my life."_ For Star Toothless would do just about anything. For the time being if that meant holding back and doing as his rider instructed then that's what Toothless would do.

His decision to obey Hiccup changed when they made close enough to the village to see Star walking the streets with what looked like another night fury by her side. Toothless was seeing red when the dragon walking next to his Star swiped a paw at her and she dodged out of the way. He couldn't tell if it had been done in malice or not, but he would find out soon enough.

* * *

><p>After a trip to her mother's cottage and a breakfast of fish Morning Star and Shade were making their way through the mostly deserted village. Star's first impression, now that she was actually seeing it and not just flying over it quickly, was that the village was a heck of a lot bigger then the one back on Berk. If anything Star felt like the place was more like a city then a town! It was just that big.<p>

"_I wish mother could have come with us."_ Morning Star said wistfully as Shade led the way to one of the larger town squares where a lot the trading went on.

"_Maye next time," _Shade offered up hopefully. "_She did look really tired though. It's understandable why she'd turn down a walk through the village."_

Star nodded sadly. Her mother was old and the trip from the island to Berk and back and left the elderly human weakened and tired. The healer that had been visiting her mother's cottage had made a point to make sure Star understood that her mother needed bed rest for a few days at the least.

"_Hey! Cheer up!" _Shade bumped at Star with his wing and he smirked at her when she looked up at him. "_There's going to be a huge feast tonight with tons of fish! Fish you've never had before!" _He licked his lips and pranced a bit. "_A lot of them are really colorful and juicy!"_ There were even fruits on the island that were especially delicious to dragons that he knew couldn't grow in the colder climates of the north.

The thought of eating exotic fish did cheer Star up a little. That and she knew her mother would probably be there to join her.

Seeing the young white female's spirits lift made Shade smirk and he crouched down as if he were about to pounce. "_Oh! And only two of the elders will be there! So you won't have to deal with those old scales!" _

_"You'll be there though?" _Star asked as she batted a paw at Shade. Even though she'd barely known the night fury for day she liked him. He wasn't Toothless, but she could at least see a possible friendship with him._"Will my suffering ever end?"_

That elicited a response from Shade in the form of a tackle. Star playfully jumped out of the way and swung her tail around to bat Shade away.

Before either night fury could continue the playing there was a loud and rage filled roar from an alpha that filled the sky. Any sound in the village was gone and the few dragons and humans that had been walking around quickly retreated from the square.

"_I know that roar!" _Star was the only dragon not effected by the call for submission and she looked up quickly. There, in the air and quickly descending, flew Toothless his scales a brilliant blue and the pupils of his eyes mere slits. "_Toothless!" _Star called out happily and she stood on her hind legs to wave her paws at him. Her wings flared out and she would have jumped into the air had Toothless not already been racing to the ground.

"_Shit!" _There was only one alpha on the island currently and he was too elderly to really enforce his position, but Shade could recognize an enraged male when he saw him. Quickly the bigger night fury dove out of the way as Toothless smashed into the ground where he had once been standing. "_This isn't what it looks like!" _Shade said quickly as he tried to show submission the one called Toothless only to have to jump out of the way of a plasma blast.

"Toothless! Stop!" Hiccup cried as he tried to sooth his dragon. "Star is fine! Look she's over there!" He cursed as Toothless tried to flip Hiccup out of the saddle and he had to hang on tighter.

"_T-Toothless?"_ Star had never seen the older night fury like this. Even the times when he'd had to go full alpha to take control of the dragons around them Toothless had never acted like this. "_Toothless please stop! Shade's a friend!" _Without even caring about her own safety Star darted forward to put herself between Shade and Toothless. Star heard the protests from Shade and the guards that had landed not to far away, but she ignored them.

The shining white scales of his mate pulled at Toothless' senses and he paused in his attack of the night fury that had been attacking Star. His legs shook as he dug his claws into the stone road he stood on and he panted hard as he tried to keep his plasma blast from releasing. Still his gaze was hazy and he could barely understand what the voices around him were saying.

Through the haze of his vision the white form before him slowly came closer until he felt a gentle nuzzle from the smaller night fury.

Slowly, so very slowly, Toothless regained his senses. The pupils of his eyes became round again and the red haze that had filled his gaze lifted. Toothless closed his eyes and when he felt Hiccup climb off his back he returned the comforting nuzzles Star had been giving him. He brought one of his forelegs up to give Star a hug around her neck.

Star felt tears in her eyes and the fell when she felt Toothless regain himself. She sobbed into Toothless' shoulder, letting out the relief she felt to be with Toothless again and the fear that she would never see again. Star gave in when Toothless pulled her closer and curled around her protectively. His wing draped over her effectively blocking out the rest of the world and it soothed Star.

"_You're never going anywhere without me ever again!" _Star declared once she had her voice back.

With his head tucked under his wing to comfort his shaking and sobbing mate Toothless didn't see Cloudjumper and Skullcrusher land. He didn't pay any attention when his human spoke to the strangers that had landed with their own dragons. Toothless' focus was completely and utterly on Morning Star.

"_I'm never leaving you again Star. Never." _Toothless nuzzled and licked the top of Star's head and then her cheeks to clean off the tears. _"__I swear on my life." _

_"_Hiccup..." Once everyone had calmed down Valka had slowly looked around at the village around them. "These symbols...I know these symbols."

Hiccup paused in his greeting of the guards and looked over at one of the signs hanging over a doorway. His eyes widened and he realized what his mother was talking about. "Those are the symbols from the dragon eye!"

* * *

><p>AN: Hey! Look! I'm not dead!

Thanks everyone who left comments. They're what helped me to write this chapter despite how close I was to just giving up on it. I was seriously thinking about just discontinuing this story, but after reading all your wonderful comments over and over I decided not to.

Next time in Night and Day: I have no fricken idea! :: runs around laughing hysterically:: It'll have something to do with Hiccup and Toothless meeting the elders. Possibly more explanation as to how important Star is. And Haldar getting a good sound beating. Definitely that.

Also after watching all of the episodes from Race to the Edge I have a pretty good idea on how to incorporate several of my earlier ideas into the story that I had originally given up on.


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